Lingering Goodbye
by Bandit-sama
Summary: AU:After Jak 3: Now that Jak's father is gone, Jak begins the search for his mother, and finds out who she is and who he really is.
1. Start of Yesterday

I don't own Jak 3 or any of it's characters. I only own Avelli.

Anyways, here's the thing that I think Naughty Dog should have explained after all, they left too many gaps in the Jak storyline. Some of the characters in this story will be from Sleepingelf's stories so you might have to go there and read some of her things. Hopefully this will turn out alright so enjoy!

* * *

Two simple months had passed since the end of Jak's third adventure. Two months since Errol had been destroyed and the world was sent back to the way it was before. Since then, everything had been happy, people were rebuilding things and praising Jak whenever they could but something was still missing. Something Jak couldn't understand nor figure out and it was bothering him. Whenever Jak thought of this, he just figured that it was all of the pressure from Spargus because the people there were pushing for a new king and Jak, being Damas' son, was up for the throne. Thinking of this only brought up another feeling Jak wasn't used to and that was the feeling of being alone. He had friends, a place to stay and the world seemed save enough but he still felt so alone.

His family.

His father had just passed away, the only thing he had of a family he had ever had. A part of him when he discovered Damas was his father was excited but the feeling was soon killed as Damas died in his arms. But for a second, just a second, he had been with his father, known his father, and was there for him when he needed him most. He felt happy knowing all of this but _still_ the feeling of being alone wouldn't leave him. All of this lead him to talk to Samos, hoping to find something to make him feel better when Samos brought up the fact that Jak _was_ missing something.

His mother.

That was the only explanation for how he was feeling, so in order to try and get over his feeling he began to go through the things and papers his father had left behind, hoping to find an answer to where his mother might be or who she might have been. Everyone he had talked to knew nothing about Jak's mother and if she were even alive, leaving Jak to have to search on his own. It wasn't until Jak found one set if small letters did he find out the answer to the major question floating around in his mind.

Was his mother even alive?

* * *

Jak sighed and flopped down onto his father's bed. It was no use, he had been looking through his father's things all day and he couldn't find anything even mentioning his mother or even someone Damas had relations with. He didn't even know if Damas had married anyone, after all, there weren't any signs of a woman being with Damas such as a wedding ring or anything like that.

_I didn't think this was going to be this hard._ Jak thought as he looked up at the ceiling that was looking back down at him. He rubbed his eyes quickly and sat up, taking another look around his father's old room.

It was fairly large; Jak thought that a king's room would be bigger though, and only had the basic things, a bed, a light, a door leading to a balcony, and a small nightstand near the bed. Jak sighed once more and let his eyes wander around a bit until they landed on the nightstand. It was then Jak noticed a small drawer he had overlooked before.

_Maybe there's something in there._ He thought as he moved off of the bed and bent over towards the drawer. He grabbed the small handle and pulled only to discover that it seemed stuck.

_What now?_

Jak took a closer look and saw a small golden keyhole. Jak's hands left the door handle and began feeling around the nightstand, looking to see if Damas had left the key taped to it. Nothing.

_Crap._

Jak stood up, and began looking around for somewhere a person would normally hide a key to something private. Looking at the bed, moved closer to it and lifted the mattress, hoping to see a key looking back up at from the box spring but he saw nothing. Just as he was setting the mattress back down onto it's spot, he heard the bedroom door open.

"Hey Jak how goes the search?"

Jak dropped the mattress as he saw Daxter stroll into the room with his trademark smile on his face.

"Not so good," Jak answered as he placed his hands on his hips and looked around the room once more for a place where someone might hide a key. The entertaining idea of his father acting like a little girl and hiding the key to his diary filled his mind but quickly drifted away as the seriousness of the issue came back into his mind.

"Yick! Who the hell designed this place?" Daxter asked as he looked around at the simple looking bedroom.

Jak shook his head at Daxter's comment and kept looking around when he thought of an idea to open up the drawer.

"Hey Dax," Jak began, "come here for a second."

Daxter took the invite and walked over towards his buddy. "What?" He asked as he looked around him and cricked up his nose. "This place needs a theme!"

"Do you think you could open this?" Jak asked, ignoring Daxter's pervious comment.

Daxter looked at the keyhole and raised his right paw to it, extending a nail out. "Let's see what I can do." Daxter stuck his nail into the keyhole and moved it around until he heard a clicking noise. "Ha! All in a days work baby!"

"Thanks Dax." Jak leaned forward and opened the dresser only to see a messy pile of papers. He picked up as much as he could and moved them into a pile were he could look at them.

"Damn!" Daxter exclaimed, getting Jak's attention. Daxter was looking at what remained in the dresser, mostly papers and small knickknacks people buy and never use. "Look at all this crap! Looking through it is going to take forever!"

Jak ignored Daxter's calamity and looked at the first paper he had picked up. The paper was white, and looked as if it had been written recently for the paper wasn't yellow as the rest of the papers, and didn't feel as fragile.

"What's it say, what's it say?" Daxter asked as he popped up next to Jak on his shoulder as usual.

"Give me a chance to read it," Jak said as he looked back over the paper. Taking a deep breath and hoping for the best, he let his eyes read over the paper:

_Damas,_

_Many things have been bothering me lately, mostly how everything went the last time I saw you. I'm sorry for the way things went and I would have written earlier if it weren't for this damn busy schedule I've been trying (forced) to keep. But what am I complaining about? You've got to be so much busier, especially with this damn war going on. Speaking of which, Haven is in horrible condition, but then again why should you care? _

_I've been between Spargus and Haven looking for Mar without any luck. Strangely enough I've run into Sig once or twice and his acting is beyond amazing, it almost makes me forget who he really is sometimes but Kleiver, who've I've often run into in the desert, on the other hand, is the same guy I've always known. He never really talks about you, but rather he asks me when or if I've ever coming back. I'm sure he's told you my answers so far._

_There are times when I'm in the desert and I think of coming to Spargus and seeing you…but I would never know what to say if I met you face to face once more. There's just too much there. So much that I don't think I would be able to form the right words. Every time I think of you, Mar comes to mind and how he disappeared like that and all of those feelings I hate so much come back. I'm sorry for all of this, if anything I should be there with you, making sure that you're okay but…I can't. I hate who I was before when I met you, and I'm sorry that's the person you fell in love with. I just hope that you can find her in the new me if we ever meet up again. _

_I'm never going to stop looking for our son. I **will** find him and bring him back to you no matter what. Mar was the best thing that ever happened to me, to us, and I'm going to find him. I promise. _

_-Avelli_

"Avelli…," Jak repeated in a melancholy tone. "That's my mother's name."

"Avelli?" Daxter repeated, trying to pronounce the name like Jak had. "What kind of name is that?"

Jak looked over towards Daxter, telling him that he was beginning to cross the line. Daxter just sighed in response and hopped off of Jak's shoulder and back onto the floor.

"Now what are you gonna do?" Daxter asked as he looked back up at this long time friend.

"I don't know." Jak looked over the paper once more. "This letter doesn't have a date on it or anything so I don't know how old it is."

"See if you can find a newer letter."

Jak took his orange friend's advice and looked through the drawer once more. He moved papers of different colors and strange writings around until he found a letter with writing similar to the one he had been reading not seconds before. He took it out of the drawer and took a closer look at it to see that the same woman signed it.

"Dax I found another one." Jak didn't bother to look as Daxter jumped back onto his shoulder to read with him.

_Damas,_

_Here's what I found the **most** interesting about your last letter, and I'm quoting now: "A young man by the name of Jak has arrived in our city and for some reason, in his actions, he reminds me of you. He's rash, rebellious, and is excellent with a firearm. But the thing that stands out the most is the color of his eyes that color of blue, it's almost like yours." Rash? Rebellious? Doesn't that sound a bit more like **you** back in your younger days? Ah memories. Anyway, I would love to meet this "Jak" character but with the way the war is going, I won't be by anytime soon. _

_The way things are going now, here in Haven City, I'm beginning to get a little…considered. Not worried, considered. Sig has informed me that he's going back to the wasteland and won't be a spy anymore which takes a big portion out of my Mar searching party but I respect his wishes. The Underground has moved, and there's no way I can reach the lamely named "Freedom HQ" to talk to them to see if they have seen Mar anywhere. To put it lightly, this blows. _

_Damn this letter has come up short. Anyway, that's my latest report from Haven City. I'd better get back out to the fighting field, so I'll write you back later._

_-Avelli _

"Haven City." Jak moved his eyes away from the letter. "My mother is in Haven City."

"Lemme guess," Daxter began as he once again hopped off of Jak's shoulder, "you wanna go to Haven City so you can find her."

"Great idea," Jak teased as he stood up with the letter in his hand. "I guess I could talk to Kleiver to see if he has any idea where to find my mother, I have to see him on the way out of the city anyway."

* * *

Jak and Daxter walked their way through Spargus, passing by people who looked at him still in disbelief that him, Jak, could be the long lost son of the great king Damas. This was one of the many reasons Jak wanted to find his mother so that she could confirm him being Damas' son so that he could claim the throne and begin to fix things and set up a government that would work out. How she would prove that Jak was her son, though, was something he hadn't thought out yet, but he figured that he had to _find_ the woman before he made any big plans.

Jak stopped thinking about everything he had to do when he reached Spargus' gate and stepped into the car lot. He looked around, wondering where Kleiver would be.

"Where is he?" Jak asked. "He's normally down here."

"Who are you young pups lookin' for?" Kleiver asked as he walked into the lot with a smile on his face.

"There you are tubby!" Daxter exclaimed with his usual tone. "We wanna know if you know anything about Jak's mom and where we could find her."

"Your Mum 'eh?" Kleiver brought his right hand to his face and began to scratch his chin. "The lasts time I saw Avelli was back in the Desert right before you came around. She was tellin' me how she had to move closer to the port over in Haven because of damages done to her home by some metalheads. So I think you should be startin' there, Sig's in town and he knows where she's livin'."

"Thanks." Jak let go of a sigh. He had been there over and over again doing things for Krew and Torn and could have been walking passed her over and over again. Everything seemed almost too easy as if there should be something _more_ to finding his mother.

"But now that I've done you blokes a favor, I want you to do me one."

"Oh great!" Daxter sighed only thinking the worst. "Now what?"

"My communicator is picking up two people out in the wasteland right around the Oasis. I need you two to save me a trip and go pick them up." Kleiver grinned as he turned away from the two boys.

"They can live, they're near the Oasis," Daxter answered as he crossed his arms across his small chest.

"Tell'em to meet me near the Stadium," Kleiver continued as he walked out of the lot and back into the city.

"Come on Dax, the sooner we get this done the sooner we can go back to Haven," Jak said with another sigh as he walked over to 'The Sand Shark' and hopped into the driver's seat.

"I still can't believe this," Daxter began, "you king of Spargus and you're still doing errands for tubby!"

"For now." Jak started the engine. Hearing how loud it started caused Jak to smile, driving around and racing just made Jak forget everything that was happening to him just disappear and right now, more then ever, he needed just that.

The two boys, or rather just one, had been driving around, avoiding marauders as best they could until they reached the Oasis. There two figures were standing, one taller then the other, and both covered head to toe in a brown cape that came across the bottom of their faces, hiding their mouths and noses. Along with everything else came a pair of orange goggles, which hid their eyes as well.

"Hurry up and get in!" Jak yelled as he pulled up to the two.

The two figures compiled and ran over to the car where they hopped in the back and held on. Not bothering to make sure they were in safely, Jak drove off back towards Spargus. They didn't utter a word as they were driving back to Spargus, allowing Jak time to become nervous about finding his mother. He all of a sudden became anxious to see her, wondering how he was going to explain everything to her but then a thought crossed his mind he hadn't thought about before: would she even know that Damas was dead?

Everything inside Jak's mind went white. He would have to tell her, break the news to her that Damas had died and would never be able to respond to the letter she had written him. What if she, hearing the news, got upset and slammed the door in his face, wishing never to see him again? What if she didn't believe Jak at all and just left him out in the cold? What if? Those two words kept playing over and over in Jak's head and they didn't stop until he heard Daxter calling his name.

"Jak! JAK!"

"Oh what?" The blond shook his head and looked towards the small rat.

"God what were _you_ thinkin' about? Anyways, the two are ready to get out." Daxter moved his hand backwards with his thumb pointing towards the two who were stepping out of the car.

Now wondering where they were, Jak looked around only to see the gate leading into Spargus next to him. He must have driven back by instinct while he was out thinking about his mother.

Damn I drove back without even thinking about it. Jak thought as he looked down to the steering wheel.

"Thanks," The taller figure said, reveling that the person was male. "Do you know where we can find Kleiver?"

"He said to meet you two in the stadium," Daxter answered.

"Thanks." The male answered once more as he turned away with the other.

"Come on Jak; let's get over to Haven already," Daxter said, moving back towards his friend's face.

"Right."

Jak revved the car once more and began to drive towards the transporter. Once there he stopped the car, got out, and jumped into the back of the transporter. As it began to take off, he felt his stomach turn upside down. Forgetting everything he was going to say or do left him, and felt his hands shaking. Feeling his stomach moving and the food he had eaten earlier coming towards his mouth, he placed his hands on his stomach, hoping to take the pain away but it didn't.

_I'll be fine._ Jak thought. _Everything will be okay._

The transporter came to a stop, and the back door opened, allowing Jak and Daxter to step out onto the ground. They looked around to see that the traffic wasn't as bad as it usually was for whatever reason.

Jak grabbed his hover bored from his back and let it open up. He hopped on it once it was done, pushed it forward, and began heading towards the Naughty Ottsel where he knew he would be able to find Torn, Sig, and the others.

He and Daxter floated down the streets in silence. Jak was looking around, looking at all of the people walking by and all of the small doors he was passing, wondering which one could possibly belong to his mother. He was looking around, hoping to see her but he didn't know what she looked like. Jak didn't know anything about his mother except for the fact that she had blue eyes but other then that, he didn't know anything. He just figured that she would be standing out from the rest of the people, from the crowds and that she would recognize him.

Before he knew it, he was standing outside the Naughty Ottsel. He put his hover bored away and walked up to the front door. It opened, and he walked in only to have Daxter jump off of his shoulder and walk over to the bar.

"Ah! It feels good to be back home!" the orange rat said happily as he hopped onto the bar where Tess, Torn, and Sig sat, drinking.

"Daxie baby!" Tess squeaked as she ran across the bar and hugged Daxter tightly. "Oh I've missed you so much!"

"Hey Sig," Jak said, walking up to the bar himself.

"Hello Cherry!" Sig said happily, as Jak sat down beside him on a barstool.

"Do you know anything about a woman named Avelli?" Jak asked.

"Cherry…" Sig looked away, sighing and shaking his head back and forth as he looked down at the bar. "I don't wanna touch that issue with a ten foot pole."

"So you know her?" Jak leaned forward. "Sig do you know where I can find her?"

"Cher—"

"I do," a voice Jak instantly recognized said, interrupting Sig. Jak looked around; looking for the person the voice had come from to see Jinx sitting down at a table with his feet on the table, and a cigar in his mouth.

"Hey!" Daxter protested once he saw Jinx and his position. "Feet off the merchandise!"

"What do you know about Avelli?" Jak asked. He got up from where he had been sitting and walked over to Jinx.

"Well," Jinx let go of a puff of smoke, "she comes by my place to buy cigars once a week or I go to drop off at her place." Jinx brought his cigar back up to his mouth and took another drag off of it as his eyes ran up and down Jak's body. "Come to think of it blondie," He let go of the smoke, "you look a lot like her only she's better lookin'. I've never noticed."

"Tell me where I can find her," Jak insisted.

Jinx opened his mouth to answer but Sig answered for him.

"She's not here anymore Cherry."

"What?" Jak asked breathlessly as he turned around.

"She left earlier this morin' to go back to Spargus," Sig continued his answer, "She was talking to me this morin', she told me that she had to go back…to see Damas."

"Doesn't she know?"

"She knows." Sig hung his head and sighed. "She wants to say goodbye."

"Hold on just a sec," Torn interrupted after hearing everything being said, he had gotten lost in the mix. "Why do you need to see Avelli?"

"She's my mother," Jak answered. He turned away from everyone and looked back towards the front door, missing the shocked looks on Torn and Jinx's faces. "Dax I think you should stay here for tonight."

"Sure buddy," Daxter said sadly, mostly because he was upset on how hard Jak was taking everything.

Jak walked forward, and stepped out of the bar, leaving the group behind to wonder. He quickly hovered over to the transporter, got back inside, and took off once more for the wastelands, hoping to find his mother back there when a thought crossed his mind.

"_She left earlier this morin' to go back to Spargus."_

_Left this morning…_ Jak thought._ Then…._

Those two people he had picked up, could one of them be his mother? Jak's heartbeat picked up as the thought ran through him. It made sense, and it was a possibility that looked greater then anything else he could think of. He now knew where to go, he had to go to the stadium to see if it truly was his mother or not. This was his only lead.

"How can Avelli be Jak's mother?" Torn asked as he looked towards Sig who seemed to know more then anyone else.

Sig sighed. "Ya'll know that Damas fathered that small boy who turned out to be Jak and kids don't pop out of nowhere. Damas was married to Avelli and they had Jak together."

"What happened?" Tess asked as he looked towards Sig also.

Sig shook his right hand back and forth. "Like I said that's an issue I don't wanna touch with a ten foot pole."

"Avelli a mom huh?" Jinx said, getting everyone's attention. "Never would have guessed."

"Why do you say that?" Torn asked while he took a sip out of his beer mug.

"Let's just say she doesn't act like a mother." Jinx grinned as he took another puff off of his cigar.

* * *

R&R please! 


	2. Some Kind of Mistake

I don't own Jak or any of its characters; I only own Avelli, Marloni, and Louin.

Thanks everyone for their reviews! I love them all! Anyways, here's the second chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

Jak arrived back in the wastelands only to see that 'The Sand Shark' he had left parked near the transporter was now gone. Figuring Kleiver must have moved it, Jak took out his hover bored once more and pushed his way forwards towards the Spargus gate before any marauders could catch him.

_It's okay._ He thought. _Everything will be all right_.

Jak made it to the gate and hopped in as it opened. Wanting to get to the stadium quickly, he kept his hover bored out and floated into the city, going as fast as he could.

He could hear his heart pounding away in his ears as he came closer and closer to the stadium when he spotted Kleiver walking down the stairs.

"Kleiver!" Jak called out.

"Oh so you're back in town?" Kleiver said as he finished walking down the stairs and stood next to the young prince.

"Why didn't you tell me the person I was picking up was Avelli?" Jak hissed, just now remembering.

"I didn't know a thing 'bout it. If you're lookin' for her now she's still up there." Kleiver pointed up the stairs.

"Thanks." Jak ran up the stairs as quickly as he could only to feel his stomach turn once more. He ignored it as the door opened, allowing him into the hallway where a gang of people stood, talking.

He recognized the men, they were a gang of people who had put themselves together after Damas died to try and put everything back together and find a new king as soon as possible. The issue though, was that they didn't think Jak was Damas' son and they were going to have a meeting tomorrow night where Jak would bring everyone he could find to help prove his case and win the crown, not because he wanted power, but because it was his responsibility.

"Ah here he is! The young Jak!" one of the men said as he turned to face Jak, causing everyone else to look towards him.

"Yes Avelli," another man began, "this is the young man claiming to Damas' son."

"Really?" a woman's voice said; Jak's heart picked up it's pace. "Lemme see him."

A woman stepped out from the parting crowd of men and looked at Jak as she folded her arms across her chest. Her dark green hair was pushed back, leaving only a few strands to hang down in front of her face, while a yellow band that wrapped around her forehead held the rest back. Her dark blue eyes set on Jak's, making remember Damas' comparison. She was wearing a dark green tank top with a strap crossing across her chest with ammo, grenades, and small knifes. Her pants were simple black pants littered with pockets, along with a gun on the right side of her hip, and another knife on her left.

"So you're Jak?" she asked, raising her right eyebrow. "Why don't you come with me on a little walk?"

Jak shook his head. "Yeah, sure."

"Do you want me to come?" a man asked as he walked up to Avelli. Jak recognized his voice being the same one he had heard earlier when he picked the two up.

The man had orange colored hair that nearly covered his green eyes, and fell behind him in a small ponytail. He was wearing a black trench coat that kept everything else about him hidden except for the large black boots he was wearing.

"I'll be fine Louin," Avelli answered. "I'd like you to stay here and discuss a few more things with these fine gentlemen."

"Yes ma'am." Louin nodded.

"Come on, Jak. I've got a few things I want you to show me." Avelli walked past all the men around her and over to Jak's side. She tugged on his shoulder, and the two of them walked out of the stadium entrance.

Jak didn't know what to say. Here he was, walking next to the woman who was _supposed_ to be his mother and all the questions he had been dying to ask her just slipped his mind. All the words he had been practicing in his head over and over again left him, and he was once again left with a blank mind.

Everything seemed too easy once more to Jak. The person he was looking for was walking beside him and finding her had only taken one day of researching and running back and forth a few times. Had he known that it was going to be _that_ easy, he would have done it when he was working for Damas. But then again, maybe things were easy for a reason, almost like he was destined to meet up with her once more once Damas had died.

The two of them walked down the sandy streets, Jak noticing that people were staring at him and his female partner and whispering to each other. Some even gave small glares towards the woman, but Avelli seemed as if she were ignoring it, or didn't see it.

They were both quiet, Jak not knowing where they were heading until Avelli took a small turn. It was then he realized that they were heading up towards Damas' throne room, where his altar was.

After Jak had beaten Errol, he returned to the place where Damas had died with Sig, Kleiver, and a three more wastelanders to retrieve his body. It took all of them to lift the car, and then move his body. It wasn't until then that all of them saw the damage done to Damas' body and because of that, they decided to cremate him. Everything, all his ashes, where up in his throne room, sitting on top of an altar for people to visit and mourn. Jak was surprised by how many people had come to visit. Every visit made Jak realize how important Damas was to people, and how they really did think of him as their king.

"Your name is Jak right?" Avelli asked, breaking the silence.

"Uh, yeah." Jak looked ahead to see the door opening to a hallway with the elevator leading up to Damas' throne room.

The two became silent once more as the door finished opening. They stepped into the room, walked over to the elevator, and stood there as the elevator moved upwards. Being there, in the elevator, brought back memories of doing to see Damas. Memories of fighting, saving the world, and being around his father.

The elevator stopped, and Avelli stepped out before Jak. He watched as she walked over to Damas' throne and stood in front of it. She then looked to the side and saw the altar with a picture of the sand king. She walked over to the altar and gently let her fingers touch over the picture.

"I heard," Avelli spoke gently. "I heard how Damas died. I think he would have wanted to go that way…fighting."

"Yeah." Jak didn't know what else to say so he said the first thing that came to his mind even though he began to damn himself right after he said it.

"You held him as he died right?" she asked, turning away from the altar to face the blond. "What…were his final words?"

"He wanted me to find his son, Mar." Jak walked over and stood in front of Avelli. He reached down into his pocket and began searching for the emblem Damas had given him. "He gave me this."

Jak handed the red emblem to Avelli who looked at it longingly as she gently touched it. Her right hand took it from Jak's, and she brought it up to her chest where she held it and sighed.

"You know," Avelli began as she turned back to the altar, "I've only regretted two things in my life, and now I have something else to regret. I broke my promise of finding Mar to Damas. If only I worked a little faster, a little harder, Damas would have been able to see his son again…and I would have too."

"Avelli," Jak stepped forward and placed his right hand on her shoulder, "I know this sounds…weird but…I'm Mar."

Avelli giggled a bit as Jak withdrew his hand. She turned around quickly and crossed her arms across her chest.

"I gotta hear this," she said with a sight grin that Jak found odd. How could this woman, his _mother_ act such a way after discovering his father's death?

"It's a long story." Jak sighed.

"I'm ready to hear it."

* * *

A half an hour had passed since Jak had begun his story, his life story, to the woman that was supposed to be his mother. Since then she had become bored sitting around in the throne room and now the two had walked down to the beach where they were now sitting down on the shore, looking out towards the ocean.

"And that," Jak sighed, "is how I found out who I really am."

"Boy, that's the strangest story I've ever heard," Avelli answered; Jak looked up at her oddly. "And yet my heart is telling me to believe you, even though my head is callin' you a lair."

"But—"

Avelli's right hand rose up, cutting Jak off. "Don't worry about it, I know you're my son."

Jak sighed once more. He had gotten everything he wanted to off of his chest but still, something didn't feel right. He looked back out towards the ocean, wondering if Avelli really did believe him but his thoughts shattered as he heard the sound of a lighter. He looked up to see Avelli puffing off of a brown cigar.

"Jak," she said gently, letting go of a small poof of smoke. "Heh, funny that's your name. It was my Dad's name too."

The two became quiet once more and just listened to the sounds of the waves crash up against the rocks next to them. Jak listened to Avelli smoke away, and remembered how Jinx had said that she bought the cigars from him on a regular basis.

"There's gotta be a reason why you wanted to find your old Mom out in the world," Avelli spoke. "Why? And don't tell me you just wanted 'closure' I don't buy that crap."

"Well." Jak laughed a bit as a small blush crossed his face. "There's…this girl. I want to ask her to marry me."

Jak hadn't told Daxter that reason because he felt that he would tell him if and when he felt like it. It was the real reason he wanted to find his mother, he wanted her blessing and approval of the woman he was going to marry or rather ask to marry.

Avelli giggled a bit, and let go of a small white puff once more. "You got her a ring or somethin' yet?"

"No." Jak sighed and looked down towards the sand.

He heard Avelli moving around, and suddenly her hand appeared in front of his face with the red emblem in her palm.

"This. Give it to her."

Jak took it, glanced at it and then placed it back into his pocket as the thought of giving it away filled his head. Was it right? And would she even like it? Or more importantly, would she say yes?

"I was also hoping to take your last name," Jak said, looking up towards Avelli.

"Oh." She coughed a bit. "That's not such a good idea Jak. I suggest you take Damas' or make a new one."

"Why?"

Avelli blinked at that question, almost as if Jak should have known why himself. She looked away, upset that she had to tell this to Jak.

"So no one told you my last name?" Avelli sighed.

"I didn't even know your first one until this morning," Jak answered back, suspicious of why Avelli was so hesitant to give her last name.

"Have you noticed all of the stares and whispers we've been getting?" she asked, becoming serious all of a sudden.

"Yeah."

"It's because of me. My full name is Avelli De La'Cour. It's not a last name to be proud of; us La'Cour's are nothing but thieves, cheats, and lairs. You can tell a person is a La'Cour by the trademark green hair, blue eyes, and short male stature which you've seemed to acquire from my genes but your Father's genes have turned your hair blond luckily. Your face has some features of a La'Cour so you should be careful, it could get you in trouble one day."

"What are you saying exactly?" Jak asked as he stood up.

"After this little reunion," Avelli took a long drag and then released it, "it would be better that we didn't see each other anymore."

"What?" he asked breathlessly.

"It's too dangerous for you and your future wife to have to keep messing around in the La'Cour family." Avelli threw her finished cigar into the ocean and turned away from Jak. "I _do_ want to find out more about you Jak and your fiancée in order to give my blessing but…things are risky. My stay here isn't going to be much longer so I'll do all I can while I'm here."

"Who's after you?"

"No one in particular," she answered with a shrug. "My family has killed and hurt so many people and the fact that we can harness Eco as well as we do leaves us open."

"Harness Eco?" Jak repeated.

"You get it from my family. I can't do it well but you're something else. You've gathered all of the genetic powers from my side of the family and harness the power better then anyone I've ever seen. That…" Avelli gripped her fists. "Is why it's my fault _you_ got taken back in Haven. If I had never been born to this family, or learned my powers you would have been with your father."

"Avelli…All I want is to get to know you before…" Jak stopped himself. He couldn't bring himself to say that he was afraid to lose his mother just like he had lost his father two months ago.

"Jak, you need me to tell the city that you're the actual son of Damas. I'm the only one in the world that can do that for you and I'm not too creditable with my last name and all," Avelli replied, ignoring Jak's previous comment. "Everyone here knows of the La'Cour family so your only hope to get people who know of your story. Sig, Kleiver, Daxter, Pecker, and everyone else you've mentioned, bring them here to speak tomorrow night."

"Are you going to be there?"

"I don't know." Avelli shrugged.

"Why not?"

Avelli sighed once more. "Everyone will be up in the throne room when you present your case and I don't want them seeing me there. If they do see me up there, they'll assume that you're trying to take office for the La'Cour family and drop you."

"Well…," Jak said as he began to think. "If I say I'm the son of Damas, won't they know you're my mother?"

Avelli giggled once more and looked back out towards the ocean. "That's the good about secret marriages, no one knows about them."

Jak blinked, not believing everything he was hearing. Things were so weird, and so unexplained that he couldn't figure anything out so he did what all people do when they're confused: he asked.

"Secret marriages?" he repeated.

"Yeah," she answered. "They called me here, the men I was talking to before or rather the committee, called me here because they know I was the closest friend Damas had. What they don't know is that we were married. They asked me here to see if you really were Damas' son because I knew him so well, and right now I'm supposed to be grilling you about why you _think_ you're the son of Damas but I'm telling you everything else. All I'm supposed to do is confirm whether you're his son or not and move on, I'm _not_ supposed to be at the meeting tomorrow."

"But…," Jak began as a thought ran through him, "If your family is so hated and untrusted, why would they ask you to talk to me?"

"Smart," she mumbled, looking back towards him. "I'm the only thing they got besides Kleiver and Sig, and they think those two know you too well so they picked me, a total stranger. You're one lucky kid…out of five people who knew your father that you didn't know, and they picked me."

Jak didn't know what to say. There didn't seem like there was anything else he _could_ say. He searched his mind for any questions he could ask and through all his searching he only found one worth asking.

"Where have you been all this time?"

"Jak…I can't talk anymore," she answered, surprising the blond. "It's been too long, people will start to get suspicious. I recommended that we go back now, and I leave you."

Jak felt something hit him hard. He had just met his mother for the first time in his life and she was leaving just as quickly as his father did. He started to feel desperate almost, he wanted to tell her to stay, he wanted to scream it out but he held it back.

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked, finding the courage to ask her even though he feared the answer.

"Yeah," she answered with a smile. "I'd like to meet your fiancée after all."

"Oh." Jak drew back a bit and coughed. "That's…a whole another story."

"Well whatever." She shrugged. "After your little meeting tomorrow meet me in Haven City near the transporter and tell me there."

"Okay."

"There you two are, we've been looking for you," another male voice said, causing the two of them to look behind them. There stood the man who led the committee who was trying to discover whether Jak was Damas' son or not, Marloni.

He was almost Jak's height, had black hair which was cut short in what looked like a bowl shape, and green eyes. He was wearing mostly what all wastelanders wear, which isn't much, but his outfit was a simple sleeveless white shirt, and torn up dark blue pants.

"Hey Marloni, I'm done here," Avelli spoke as she walked up to where the group of men stood. "I think you'll find your meeting tomorrow very interesting."

"What do you think?" Marloni asked as Jak climbed up the beach and stood next to Avelli. "Do you think he's the son of King Damas or not?"

"I think he is," Avelli answered. "In my in my mind there's no doubt about it. Hell his voice even _sounds_ like Damas'."

Marloni looked away, angry. He shook it off and looked towards Jak with a smile. "Jak if you don't mind, it'd like you to talk to Louin, Avelli's assistant."

The orange haired man stepped forward and looked towards Jak. Their eyes met, only to have Louin look away quickly, and back towards Avelli who just nodded her head.

"Jak," Louin spoke, turning back to him, "I would like to speak to you in private."

"I think you should go up to the throne room again," Avelli suggested as her eyes moved towards Marloni. "It's very…private up there. No one should be able to spy on your conversation."

"Right." Louin looked back towards Jak. "Let's go."

* * *

Jak had found it rather annoying that he had to go _back_ up towards the throne room again to speak with someone _again_ but he figured that it was for his own good. After all, Louin had to be as nice as Avelli because he worked for her and he figured that Avelli seemed like the type of person to not tolerate annoying people so things would be all right. Not only that, but he had to be on the same side as her…right?

After another silent walk they arrived at the throne room. Jak walked away from the elevator and followed the path until he reached the throne.

"Has your face ever gotten you in trouble?" Louin asked, causing Jak to turn around and look at him. He was just standing there on the elevator with his arms across his chest and his chin tucked in.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jak asked, himself then crossing his arms across his chest.

"Don't play stupid." Louin uncrossed his arms and walked forward a bit, his boots scraping against the stone floor. "I've been around enough La'Cour's to recognize one, even a half ling like you. I just wanna know why do you want to claim to kingship?"

"Personally I don't think it's any of your business," Jak answered, giving off his usual attitude.

"Fine." Louin rolled his eyes. "Your little meeting is tomorrow, and I wanted you to know that you must keep your La'Cour ties a secret. If they find out you have _anything_ to do with the La'Cour family they'll strip you of any power and leave you to die. I know Avelli must have told you something, she mentioned you looking like a La'Cour when you picked us up. I'm here to recommend that you don't talk to Avelli anymore, nor pay attention to anyone who mentions you being a La'Cour."

"Your point?"

"I'm telling you to be careful," Louin insisted. "Avelli and I being here is a big risk right now so I'm telling you to watch out. And not only that, but I'm telling you that if you ever see Avelli or I out in the wasteland or Haven, you act like we're strangers alright?"

"You _are_." Jak sighed. He was beginning to think that this whole "talk" was fruitless when the thought of asking him questions about Avelli came to him. "But Louin, I want you to tell me some things about the La'Cours."

"If that's what you would like," Louin answered, becoming strangely agreeable. "The La'Cour family is a large mob family if you want to put it that way. The family is one of the worst compared to the Mizo gang and the gang Krew had going. They go back to mostly being assassins and such but they betrayed their ruler so they've gotten a bad reputation, which they seem to live in now. They cheat, steal, and will kill anyone if the price is right. The family is still large right now, Avelli being one of five girls, and she has six young male family members. All the children are expected to give children to keep the family name up, and Avelli was supposed to marry the child of a close mob family member but she gave up everything when she fell for Damas. Being the child of the head of the family, Avelli was forgiven for her disputes but she was thrown into the Metal Head war for punishment which they normally do to get good wrap once in awhile."

A part of Jak couldn't really believe what Louin was saying. He knew of the mob families in Haven but he didn't think that they were too bad. After all, Jinx was from a mob family and he was working for Torn for whatever reason, and he knew that Krew was a large, to say the least, mob leader as well. Haven City was crawling with mob families and Jak never really paid attention to all of them. He didn't know that a mob family could be so hated, and yet get so much respect and fear at the same time.

"Now," Louin continued, "with you being what you are you _are_ expected to produce a child to carry the name or rather the looks but I recommend that you stay out of the La'Cour family. Having that name attached to you when you take the crown _will_ result in you being stripped of your power. In order for your child to look nothing like a La'Cour, I suggest getting with someone who has dark colored hair and eyes to cancel out your genes."

"I'll take that into consideration," Jak said with a sarcastic tone.

"My conversation is over." Louin bowed down, turned away, and walked back onto elevator. He stood still while it traveled downwards, back towards the ground, leaving Jak alone once more.

Jak sighed, and ran his fingers over his face._ I should go to Haven City. I need to talk to everyone there about coming tomorrow. Damn…_

* * *

R&R please! 


	3. Rambling of Missing Yesterdays

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters I only own Avelli and Louin.

Thank you so much for reviewing! By the way, this really connects to Sleeping Elf's stories to go read those! Sleepingelf owns Hoshi and Suki.

Enjoy!

* * *

Two hours had passed, and Jak was now back in Haven City, heading towards the Naughty Ottsel. He was hoping everyone would be there like they always were so he could talk to them. The nervousness that had been bothering him the last time he came to the port was now gone, and he almost felt normal. _Almost_.

_La'Cour_.

That name kept floating around in his head and it was beginning to bother him. He didn't know why he was thinking about it, but he figured that it was better not to think about it. He pushed it to the back of his mind the best he could as he waited for the door of the Naughty Ottsel to open, and took a deep breath.

"Look Blondie's back!" Jinx announced as Jak walked into the bar. "Did'cha meet Avelli or not?"

"Yeah," Jak answered, not really wishing to talk about it. He walked over to the bar and sat down near Sig. "You guys," he began, catching everyone's attention, "I need all of you there tomorrow to talk to Marloni about me being Damas' son."

"Macaroni?" Daxter asked as he crawled up to Jak's side once more.

"Marloni," Jak answered with a slight laugh.

"Is Avelli gonna be there?" Jinx asked. "Cause if she is I'll bring my cigars."

"I'm not gonna go if Avelli's there," Sig said, causing Jak to look at him.

"What! Why not?" Daxter asked in surprise.

"I told you I'm not gonna touch that with a twenty foot pole."

"You said ten last time," Tess pointed out as she straightened out her tail.

"Whatever." Sig sighed and took another drink from his pitcher.

"She said she wasn't going to be there," Jak said looking away from Sig, somewhat hurt by the fact that he didn't want to help him. "She promised."

"Fine I'll come," Sig answered, sighing once more only this time it sounded a little more relived then before. "I'm sorry Cherry but you'll understand one day."

"Yeah." Jak sighed. He turned to Torn who was standing behind the bar mixing any kind of drink he could find to make something strong. "Hey Torn, do you think you could bring Ashelin, Keira, and Samos tomorrow for me?"

"Sure." Torn shrugged.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Pecker came flying in, panting as feathers fell off of him. He flew over to the bar, stopped, and began to catch his breath.

"Jak! I've been looking all over for you!" he managed to say between breaths. "I over heard Marloni talking about having Veger on _their_ side."

"Great." Jak rolled his eyes. "Well are you going to be there tomorrow?"

"Of course!" Pecker answered. "After all I was Damas' best adviser!"

"Yeah you never did anything!" Daxter argued as he placed his paws on his hips.

"Anyway," Pecker ignored the orange rat's comment, "everything should be fine tomorrow as long as you bring the seal of Mar."

"Yeah." Jak sighed, letting his right arm fall down to the right side of his waist where he could feel the seal in his pocket. "I got it."

"What about Hoshi and Suki?" Tess asked without thinking.

The whole group fell silent and tried not to look over towards Jak even though they did. Some looked away quickly, hoping that Jak hadn't seen them looking at him but he didn't see anyone looking at him because he was looking down at the bar, thinking to himself as he heard those names. Everything that had happened in the past year came back him, and before he could feel anything, he pushed all of his feelings down into his stomach and forgot everything once more.

"I don't know about them. I haven't really heard anything from them for a week or two," Jak answered with a slight sigh. "I doubt they would want to help me anyway."

"Besides that, we don't know if us telling Marloni anything about Kitty-Cat would endanger her country," Sig added, thinking of it before anyone else. "So I think it's best that we don't ask them to come."

"Your right." Jak looked back towards the bar. "Maybe it would just be better for me to forget everything."

"_Neko-hime!"_

"_Jakie-kun!"_

Jak shook his head as those words ran through his head. They were just to haunting of everything that had happened with the last year so he ignored them the best he could even though they remained there, waiting for the next time he had nothing else to think about.

"Jak," Torn said, breaking the blond's thoughts, "maybe you should go and get some sleep."

"Yeah I will." Jak stood up. "Ya comin' Dax?"

"I'll be there later alright buddy?" Daxter said, moving closer towards Tess. "I'm gonna be a little busy."

"Okay, see ya." Jak walked back towards the right side of the bar where a small door stood. He opened it to a large family like room and flopped down on a dark blue couch. Getting comfortable, he closed his eyes, and fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

So much time had passed since Jak last closed his eyes. He was now standing in front of Marloni and the rest of the council, telling them his story, leaving out Cat and all of his travels with her. They were in the arena, standing near the chair where Damas sat as he watched Jak fight for his citizenship; it was also the place where the Precursors had left two months ago. He had his friends there, Samos being the one who confirmed everything as well as he could with Keira by his side. Ashelin was a large help, being the daughter of The Baron and everything, while Sig and Kleiver helped with telling how it could be possible for Jak to be Damas' son.

"So," Veger began, crossing his fuzzy arms, "if you are the son of King Damas, where is your mother?"

Hearing this, Kleiver and Sig stood a bit taller and looked towards each other from the side of their eyes.

Jak froze. "I don't know."

"He just learned who his father was!" Samos argued. "Give the boy a chance!"

"I asked Jak," Veger said, lowering his eyes down towards him.

"Veger." Sig stepped up, catching everyone's attention. "I think you know the answer to that question more then anyone else here. I think that you should step down."

"Conflict of interest," Samos said, agreeing with the tall Wastelander.

The answer to that question? Jak thought, looking over towards Sig. What is he talking about? What does Veger know?

"Then _I_ will step up." Marloni stepped up from the group standing behind the Veger Ottsel. "Jak, you claim that you are the son of the great King Damas, and through your story I hear truth. A La'Cour was brought here that knew King Damas well and she has confirmed your heritage."

La'Cour? Veger thought, his eyes widening as he listened to Marloni speak. It had to be Avelli! And no one told me she was going to be here?!

"Though her family is one not trusted," Marloni continued, "she is one of the only people Damas trusted and we are not here to judge our own trust but that of Damas. He spoke highly of you Jak, so as far as I and the council are considered, you are now the prince of Spargus. You will rule this land but will not be king until you marry or bare a child just as your father did. You have also proved your heritage to The House of Mar and that you have passed the test of manhood. Because of this, we as the council trust you fully."

"That's right!" Daxter cheered as he jumped up and down on Jak's shoulder. "Oh yeah Jak!"

Jak grinned and sighed as he felt a large weight on his shoulders disappear. Things would be okay now; the council believed that Damas was his father, which means that the people would too. Maybe that's what Jak wanted, just for people to know that he was and is Damas' son so that for once, Jak could have a father.

* * *

"Avelli."

In the hallway of the arena hidden in the shadows stood Avelli, looking out towards the group, unable to hear anything that was being said between them. She turned around as her name was called and saw Louin standing there with a stoic look on his face as always.

"Jak has the crown now," he said.

She sighed and grabbed her chest. "Thank Mar. I was considered."

"What are we to do now?" Louin asked, stepping forward.

"We'll stay here a bit longer. I promised Jak I would meet up with him tonight to talk with him," she said, moving her eyes back up to Jak. "Louin, I want you to go home and pack, we're only staying in Haven City for one more night."

"Yes ma'am." He bowed down, and stepped back into the darkness.

_Jak_. Avelli thought as she sighed once more. _Please be careful in whom you trust._

* * *

Everything was set, and everyone had gone back to Haven City and was now at the Naughty Ottsel, celebrating Jak's win. Jak, though, was outside near the transporter, waiting for Avelli to arrive like she promised.

_Please show up, please._ He thought as he waited.

The transporter landed next to him, pushing air underneath it as it landed and causing Jak's hair to fly back as he covered his face with his arms. He looked away as it landed, and heard the back door open and hit the floor he was standing on. Jak moved his arms away from his face and saw Avelli step out onto the loading dock.

"So you showed up?" she asked once her feet touched solid ground.

"I should be saying that to you," Jak answered back, crossing his arms.

"Well I'm here now, what do you want to do?" she asked, moving closer towards him. "Oh by the way I heard about you getting the crown. Good job."

"Oh." Jak blinked. "Thanks."

"So," Avelli began as the two began to walk down the loading dock, "how's your fiancée feel about all of this?"

Jak sighed. "I'm gonna have to tell you that story when we're alone. My fiancées friends are going to be there tonight so please don't say anything about me having a fiancée."

"Sure, but we are alone if you want to talk."

Jak shook his head. "I don't think it's the right time."

"Alright."

They were both quiet for a moment as people walked by them and looked at Avelli strangely. She didn't seem to notice but Jak did. He noticed that the strange looks looked exactly like they did back in Spargus almost as if Avelli's family was hated just as much in Haven as it was in Spargus.

"So what are we doing?" she asked, breaking the silence.

"I figured that you come to celebrate with us." Jak grinned.

"Us? And who is us?"

"You'll see." Jak laughed slightly.

* * *

"So who's coming?" Tess asked.

Everyone who had been at the meeting on Jak's side was now at the Naughty Ottsel, waiting for Jak's special guest to show up. They were hoping to celebrate Jak's win all night long but they had no idea who this "special guest" was, and slightly feared the guest raining on their parade.

"I'm not telling." Daxter crossed his arms. "Jak told me to keep it a surprise so that's how it's gonna stay!"

"Let's hope it's someone good lookin'," Jinx said as he lit up a cigar. "I don't wanna be sittin' here lookin' at 'nother ugly face."

"Hey!" Daxter protested.

"Let's just concentrate on the celebration!" Samos said, slamming his stick down onto the floor to prove his point. "After all, Jak deserves it."

Suddenly the doors opened and Jak walked in with Avelli by his side. Jinx hopped up the minute he saw her and Sig turned away quickly. She came in with a grin on her face, and Jak came in looking slightly considered.

"Avelli!" Jinx called out once he reached her. He hit her on her upper arm. "I haven't seen you in awhile! I've been droppin' of your cigars to some kid by the name of Louin."

"Yeah he's my henchman," Avelli said, hitting Jinx back.

Jak stepped forward to everyone sitting at the bar. "This is Avelli, my mother."

"Never would have picked _you_ as a mother," Jinx whispered, moving into Avelli.

"I hid it well," she whispered back.

As she looked around at the people there, her eyes landed on Sig who wasn't looking at her. Torn and Ashelin stood along side Keira and Samos, who were now looking at her in wonder and comparing the way she looked to Jak.

"They _do_ look alike," Samos whispered the people around him.

"_That's_ the problem," Torn sighed and crossed his arms.

Avelli's eyes looked and searched around the room, looking for someone she would pick for Jak's future wife but her thoughts changed as her eye caught Ashelin. Smiling, she walked over towards her.

"You're the daughter of the late Baron, correct?" She asked, not losing her smile.

"Yes," Ashelin answered, narrowing her eyes a bit in suspicion.

"I thought you looked familiar." Avelli brought her right hand up and cupped her chin. "You don't remember me from when you were younger do you?"

Ashelin blinked and thought it over. "How did you know my father?"

Avelli twitched after hearing Ashelin's delay. "Well he _was_ very close with my family if you know what I mean."

"What are you trying to say?" Ashelin hissed.

"Nothing." Avelli turned away.

"Startin' trouble already." Sig sighed, catching Avelli's attention.

Avelli sighed and shrugged. "Hey it's what I was brought up to do."

"Now, now we're all adults here," Samos interjected, stepping between the two. "Now why don't we have the celebration we've all been looking forward to."

"With all good intentions." Avelli stepped away from Sig, and sat down at a table. Jinx looked back at the group, grinned, and sat down in the seat across from Avelli.

Jak sighed, seeing how everyone reacted to one another. A part of him hoped that everything would work out as soon as everyone began to get into a better mood but somewhere in the back of his mind he had a lingering feeling that things were going to get worse.

Feeling that he should do something to get everyone into a party mood, Daxter grabbed Tess, ran over to the table were Avelli had chosen to sit and hopped onto the table.

"Oh." Jak coughed as he too walked over to the table. "Avelli this is Daxter my best friend."

Avelli's smile returned. "So you're the one I hear so much about? It's nice to meet you Daxter."

"And this," Daxter wrapped his paw around Tess' waist, "is my number one girl, Tess."

"Nice to meet you as well Tess. Have we met before? That name sounds familiar."

"Yes." Tess nodded. "I used to work for Krew."

"That's it." Avelli moved her right hand. Then it hit her, Tess didn't look this way the last time she had seen her but figuring it was rude to ask, she kept her mouth shut and smiled instead.

Jak coughed. "Uh, Avelli, I'd like to introduce you to Samos, and Keira. Samos was the one who helped to look after me when I was younger and Keira is a childhood friend."

Avelli immediately stood up and walked over to Samos. She stood in front of him and sighed. "I cannot thank you enough for everything you've done for Jak. I owe you the protection of the La'Cour family."

The room grew quiet as if what Avelli had just said was very important. Torn blinked, not expecting something like that, and Ashelin reacted the same way. Jinx gave a small laugh while the rest of the room stood in wonder.

Daxter leaned over towards Jinx and whispered, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a big thing," Jinx answered. "It means that the La'Cour family is indebted to Samos, meanin' he can call in the favor any time."

"Oh I needs one of those."

"Please don't hesitate to ask my family for help," Avelli continued. "We will be willing to help you whenever you need us."

Samos didn't know what to say as he stood there looking back towards Avelli who looked so meaningful. Figuring there was only one thing he could say, he said it.

"Thank you Avelli for bringing Jak here," he spoke. "Without you, Jak's story never would have been told."

Avelli sighed and turned away. "I have to thank all of you for everything you've done. All of you have helped Jak when it should have been me. Sig," she turned towards him only to see him turn away from her once more, "I have to say thank you to you too."

"Don't worry about it," Sig answered with a sigh.

The room fell silent once more as the mood went down. Avelli was now thinking to herself and suddenly stopped talking to everyone and just looked down towards the floor. Daxter sighed, feeling as if it were up to him _once_ more and hopped up and down.

"Come on! Let's get this party started already!" He yelled in a high-pitched tone.

"Yeah!" Keira said happily.

* * *

A few hours had passed since the party had started once more and things were now winding down. A few drinks had been passed around, leaving only a few people standing while some like, Keira and Samos stood around, talking instead of drinking. Jak talked to Torn and Ashelin through most of the party and glanced over towards Avelli who had been playing poker with Jinx all night. Daxter and Tess mostly remained on the bar, mixing up drinks and talking to one another about things.

"What'da got left?" Jinx asked as he looked over his cards.

"A five," Avelli answered seriously. "I'm puttin' that in."

Jinx took the cigar out of his mouth and leaned back. "Fine."

"Sig looks pissed," Torn whispered towards Jak, causing him to look away from his mother and Jinx.

"He's been like that ever since she showed up," Ashelin added. "I don't know if it's alright for you to trust her Jak."

"Why?" Jak asked, slightly irritated that Ashelin would even ask such a question.

"Well," Ashelin sighed, "it's a big risk for us to have her here right now. You have to remember her heritage and how she was raised."

Jak turned away and placed his drink down on the counter. "Yeah, and remember that's my heritage now too."

He was right, and realizing what she had said, Ashelin looked away. Torn looked at her, then back towards Jak only to see him walking over towards Jinx and Avelli.

"Alright." Avelli leaned back into her seat. "Show me what you've got."

Jinx grinned and dropped his cards. Three of a kind. Seeing this, Avelli dropped her cards, showing that she only had two of a kind.

"Dammit." Avelli moved back up to the table and took a drink from her shot glass. "My luck has been horrible lately."

"Oh yeah." Jinx reached outwards and grabbed all of his winnings off of the table. "Your luck really blows Avelli, I almost never lose to you."

"Yeah well," she sighed, "I'm a bit distracted."

"Yeah and you should be," Sig growled.

Avelli stood up and crossed her arms. "What are you trying to say Sig?"

Sig sighed. "What I'm sayin' is that I don't think you should be actin' this way after the love of your life has just died."

Avelli slammed her right fist down on the table next to her. "Don't tell me what the hell to do! You don't know what you're talking about so keep your mouth shut dammit!"

Sig laughed and shook his head. "I just think you're bein' your usual irresponsible self."

A shot glass flew by Sig's head, and smashed against the back of the bar. The pieces of glass fell onto the floor and caused a silence to enter the room. Sig, and the others turned around to see Avelli with her right hand across her chest and her head down.

"Don't you ever, EVER call me irresponsible!" she yelled, looking up at Sig with a glare in her eyes. "I've been more reasonable in my life then you ever will or ever can be so don't start with me! I will mourn my own way and it's none of your business how I do it. I don't know why you're still gripping over this grudge you've had over me for three years but keep Damas out of it!"

Sig growled once more and stood up, slamming his hands on the bar. "You know better then anyone else what Damas has to do with this."

"But he's gone now Sig! Do the man a favor who did you so many and just hate me!" she argued. "Damas fought wars all his life and now you're fighting one about him!? Just let his soul rest for once and admit that you hate me!"

Sig looked away. "I don't hate you."

Avelli laughed. "Well you've got a funny way of showing it."

"Dammit!" Sig slammed his fists down on the bar once more. "Can't you be serious for once Avelli? Everythin' that comes out of your mouth is some kind of smartass answer!"

Avelli looked away. "Fine." She turned back to the speechless group. "Thank you for having me, good-bye."

Avelli stepped back from everyone and began to walk for the entrance of the Naughty Ottsel when Jak grabbed her right wrist.

"We have to talk," Jak said, gripping her wrist.

Avelli wanted to sigh but stopped herself. She knew how much her knowing about his fiancée meant to him; after all it was the reason he went looking for her in the first place. Feeling obligated, she pulled her arm back towards her body, telling him to come outside with her.

Jak let go of her wrist and turned back to the group. "I'll be right back."

Avelli walked through the door of the Naught Ottsel, and Jak followed quickly behind her, leaving the group in awe. All expect Jinx looked back at Sig as he sat down in the bar stool and take a long drink from his glass.

"I don't trust her," Ashelin said, breaking the silence as she crossed her arms. "Jak's putting too much trust into her."

"Let the boy do what he wants," Sig interjected. "He just lost the father he never knew he had and now that he knows his mom he's excited about it. Not only that but he lost his Kitty-cat so give him a break."

The group looked at Sig in somewhat of a shock. They had no idea what had gotten into him or what Avelli had done to make his so angry. He just wasn't acting the way they knew him best to act for whatever reason and some were worried about him while others wanted to know _what_ had Avelli done to anger him so much and _why_ he had been holding on to a grudge for three years.

"Avelli ain't gonna do something to someone she loves," Sig continued. "So don't worry about her hurtin' Jak."

* * *

R&R please! 


	4. My Family of Before

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Louin, and Semton.

Long time no update. Well here you go, please enjoy!

* * *

Jak and Avelli walked outside and felt the night breeze hit them as they did so. Jak sat down against the wall of the bar where normally boxes full of ammo would sit but now that the war was over Torn had taken the boxes inside. Avelli stood in front of him and began looking through her pockets for something.

"What was that all about?" Jak asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Somethin' that happened a long time ago," Avelli answered, still looking through her pockets. "Personality I don't wanna talk about it."

"Fine," Jak hissed and looked away from the older woman.

Silence came between the two as they both listened to the water hit the dock over and over again. People walked by them; some looking at them oddly while others didn't seem to notice them at all. The sound of a lighter caught Jak's attention and caused him to look up at Avelli. She was once again lighting the end of a cigar and took a quick puff off of it.

"Are her friends here?" she finally asked.

"No." Jak shook his head. "They might show up, might not."

"You wanna tell me something about her? I'd like to know her name before I sign you over," she teased.

Jak brought his hands up to his head and began to rub his temples. "Neko—I mean Cat."

"Neko?" Avelli blinked and took the cigar out of her mouth. "THE Neko Yamazaki?"

"Yeah." Jak looked up at her. "Why?"

"Jinx told me about her," Avelli answered. "When he left to go to her country he had to tell me where he was going. He confessed it only to me so don't worry about anything getting' out or nothin'. How did _you_ meet someone like her though?"

Jak sighed and leaned against the wall behind him. "When I was in Sandover Village, she was there with her older sister. They lived there for a year with me and Dax and then just disappeared one day. I never thought I'd see her again but then when I came to this place she was here, working for Torn." He continued to rub his head. "Everything seemed to happen so fast I don't remember everything, all I _do_ remember is when we went to her country and," he sighed, "before that when I confessed to her."

"You confessed?!" Avelli's jaw dropped. "What did she say?"

Jak laughed a bit. "Nothing. She just pulled on my goggles and snapped them back into my face."

Avelli broke out laughing. She covered her mouth with her left hand as she tried not to make too much noise to bother the people around her. Jak smiled as he heard her laugh, and wondered if Damas ever heard her laugh like this.

"She really did that?" she asked though her laugh. "That's so cute! What did you do after?"

"I just kept doing what we were doing before." Jak shrugged.

"You haven't…ya know…had sex yet have you?" Avelli asked, becoming serious now.

A quick blush came across his face. "No."

"Good." She grinned. "Sex makes things go too fast, and changes people. Love is a lot better without it."

Jak blinked. He had never heard something like that before. He thought that sex would make things better between two people, not ruin things like she had said. Was she just saying it to keep him away from sex or was she telling the truth about how sex had been with her and Damas? He shuttered at the thought.

"Jak…," Avelli whispered. "This is the last time I'm going to see you. Louin and I are leaving Haven City tonight."

"But," Jak stood up, "you can't just get up and leave! I-I—"

"Jak," she sighed, "we're risking too much."

Jak shook his head back and forth. "Isn't it worth it?"

Avelli froze. Those words ran through her, ran through everything that was her and triggered thousands of memories. Before she could stop herself or bring her hands to her face, tears fell down her face.

"_But you're worth it. We're worth it."_

"Damas…," she whimpered.

"What?" Jak raised his right eyebrow.

She moved her right arm up and wiped her eyes. "I'm going to be in the desert once more before we leave. _That's _the _last_ time I'll ever be anywhere near Spargus, or Haven. After that," she took a large breath, "I'm leaving and never coming back."

"Never?" Jak asked, eyes widening.

"Never." She shook her head. "There are reasons why I don't want to be here anymore and they're complicated. I want nothing to do with Spargus either so I don't know where I'll go."

"But…" Jak looked away. "I just want to show you one more thing. Please stay a bit longer."

Avelli shook her head. "Tomorrow I'm going to be near the oasis in the wastelands. Meet me there but that _is_ the last time I'm going to be around here. After that, Louin and I are taking off."

Jak sighed from relief. "Thank you Avelli."

* * *

Jak was driving as quickly as he could towards the oasis with Daxter on his shoulder. His head was pounding away in his chest once more and his stomach was turning as well as his nerves. As he came closer towards his destination he could see dirt flying around, and a small group of people standing under a palm tree.

"Wonder what's goin' on over there!" Daxter yelled over the engine.

"We'll find out!"

He pulled up with a gang of other parked cars and hopped out. He walked over to where the small group of people stood to see Avelli, Louin, and Kleiver standing there, watching the other cars race through the sand.

"Well look whose here!" Kleiver said as he and the others turned around to the young man and Ottsel. "Who invited you?"

"I did." Avelli rolled her eyes. "Anyway Jak, welcome to the La'Cour yearly race off."

"Yearly race off?" Jak and Daxter asked at the same time.

"Every year the La'Cour family holds a small tournament to see whose going to race in the Kras City race," Louin explained. "This person will join up with another team and race to represent the La'Cour family."

"Kras City is a big, BIG racing event and only the best of the best show up." Avelli said, taking the explanation over.

Jak grinned. "Who's the one who's favored to go this year?"

Avelli turned around. "He's out there racing right now. He's your uncle, Semton Fel La'Cour."

A large car pulled up next to the group as they covered their faces and mouths. Jak opened his eyes once more to see a man step out of the large car lined without guns, and take down a bandana he had covering his mouth. His light blue hair with green highlights running through it, stuck up from his head, and his bright blue eyes that showed his relation to the mob family when he removed his goggles. He was wearing a black tank top covered with a black jacket and baggy light green pants.

"I was fifteen seconds away from beatin' your score Avelli," he said with a hint of a southern, almost blue collar, accent. "I just can't seem to do it."

"Semton," Avelli coughed from the dust, "this is Jak or rather as you knew him Mar, your nephew."

"Mar!!" Semton said happily. "I 'member you from when you were just a youngin'! Avelli's told me 'bout your situation and I'm happy to see that you've grown up to be so handsome!" He reached out towards him and wrapped his right arm around his neck. "It must be them La'Cour genes in ya!"

"Uh yeah…" Jak looked away.

"Hey these shoulders belong to me!" Daxter jumped up and down on Semton's arm.

"Sorry there little one! I didn't see ya!" Semton took his arm back.

It was strange. Here was a member of his family, touching him and talking to him like he had never left. He had wanted so badly to meet his family since the first time he had ever seen Keira with her father. And yet here he was with his true mother, and another part of his family who didn't turn his back on him. He was welcomed in this family.

Jak's eyes landed on the car, and another grin crossed his face. Seeing it, Semton pulled away and walked over to his car.

"Ya interested in racin' Jak?" he asked.

"Yeah," Jak answered as he walked over to the car and studied it.

"It's one beauty!!" Semton laughed. "It's got a sand burner goin' at seventy two, and a filter workin' at sixty six!"

Jak blinked. "W-What?"

Semton smiled. "Guess you ain't no mechanic! Don't worry 'bout it Jak! I'll teach you everything you need to know! You'll know cars and their specialties inside and backside!!"

"Save it for lat'a!" Kleiver moved his left hand back and forth. "I'm sure this little pup would like to show his mom what he can do!"

"What?" Avelli looked around.

"This is what I wanted to show you." Jak turned to his mother. "I'm going to Kras City and I'm thinking about racing."

Avelli blinked. "Really? Show me what you got! Race against Kleiver!"

"You're gonna lose!" Kleiver laughed.

"Come on tubby! Put your money where all your food goes!" Daxter said, sticking his chest out. "Trust me," Daxter whispered, "that's a lot of food."

Jak let go of a small laugh. "What car am I gonna use?"

"Use mine!" Semton answered, smacking his hand down on the car he was standing next to.

"Fine with me." Jak grinned.

Jak walked with Daxter on his shoulder over towards the car and hoped inside while Semton walked over to the driver's side. He bent down to Jak's level and pointed to a small bubble on top of the transmission stick.

"There's all kinds of Eco in there," he whispered. "Red will power your engines, yellow will boost your brakes, blue will power your turns, dark Eco will power your wheels and allow for more grip while white Eco will push to accelerate the whole car. Use each one wisely."

"How?"

"The same way you always use eco!" Semton laughed once more. "That's the advantage of bein' a La'Cour. This car's custom built for my Eco abilities, which means this should be easy street for you. Personally, I use more white Eco then anythin' else and less of yellow if you know what I mean!"

"Okay." Jak looked at all of the controls. "As long as the brakes and gas are in the same place everything should be fine."

Semton laughed and messed up Jak's hair. "I like you kid! Good luck!"

Semton walked away from the car, leaving Jak to himself. He looked once more at all of the controls and shuttered, fearing a bit that he was going to lose to someone like Kleiver right in front of his mother.

"You, uh, think you got this thing Jak?" Daxter asked as he too looked at all of the controls.

"I'll get it don't worry." Jak grabbed the transmission stick. "I just don't know how to drive a stick that well."

"What!?" Daxter yelled. "And you're gonna try and drive this thing? Jak you're gonna kill us! If you kill me—"

"I know, I know you'll never talk to me again." Jak rolled his eyes.

* * *

The race had begun, and now Jak was going around on a track over and over again while Kleiver raced on behind him. He could barely hear it but he knew Kleiver was cursing at him while he passed him. Daxter just laughed while Jak had one hand on the stick shift and was concentrating his Eco abilities.

_This car is built for a La'Cour._ Jak thought.

* * *

"He's good." Avelli smiled as she watched Jak cross the finish line on his tenth lap out of twenty. "Very good."

"Get's it from our side of the family." Semton smiled and crossed his arms. "Too bad he won't be able to compete in the Kras City race under his real last name. He'd be great."

"I know." Avelli sighed. "But he should go and race under The House of Mar, where he belongs."

"Where he belongs!?" Semton's jaw dropped. "Look at that boy!! If you ask me he should race with us! Hell he can run Eco through his body _and_ run a normal car? That boy's more La'Cour then anyone else I've seen in our next generation I'll tell you what!"

"Next generation," Avelli whispered as she looked back towards the car Jak was driving. "Not many of us have had kids."

Semton shook his head and crossed his arms. "Ever since Dad died things just ain't the same. This new group of kids just ain't what we were. They weren't raised like us, and never had to marry someone just to keep the family name up and in good taste. Hell they ain't even had to kill someone when they turned eighteen like we did."

"That's right." Avelli lowered her head a bit. "I had forgotten about that tradition. Louin, do you think you're ready for a mission like that?"

Semton immediately turned to Avelli. "You're gonna make him take the test?!"

"I'll take it." Louin nodded. "If it means becoming a La'Cour, then I'll take it."

* * *

After ten more go-arounds on the track, Jak finally crossed the finish line with Daxter clinging to his shoulder as he pumped white Eco through his body and into the car. Once he crossed the line, he pulled the car over and hopped out.

"Dammit boy!" Kleiver hissed as he too emerged from his car. "You cut me off at the end there!"

"Say what you want loser!!" Daxter teased. "Yeah Jak we won!"

"Hows about I get a _good_ race." Kleiver walked over to the standing group. "Come on Avelli, hows about you against me? Just one last race."

"The races are gonna end up like always," Avelli said as she walked towards him. "You're going to lose _again_."

"We'll see!"

Jak watched as his mother hopped into a different car then the one he had been driving, a slightly smaller one with a machine gun sitting on either side of her head. Kleiver returned to the car he had been driving before and started his engine. Before Jak could process everything into his mind, they had begun to drive around the track, and were cursing at one another.

"Is Avelli really that good?" Jak asked Semton.

Semton sighed. "Yeah she is. She's the one that set up the course record and always used to run in the Kras City races. Ya see we La'Cour's are taught to drive from a young age maybe around fifteen or fourteen and then we have'ta enter this here tournament. Avelli was the one to beat everyone and go to the races."

"But if every kid is supposed to come and race where is everybody?" Daxter asked as he looked around at the empty wasteland.

"Because our father, the leader of the La'Cour family passed away not too long ago everyone's goin' their own ways," Semton explained. "The La'Cour family is startin' to drift away and not be as strong as it used to be and maybe it's better this way."

"Why doesn't she enter the Kras City races anymore?" Jak asked, his eyes now watching his mother once more.

"When she got married to Damas and Dad found out, he sent her to fight in the wastelands 'til the day Damas died." Semton moved his hands behind his head. "She had you on the battlefield with the Metal Heads and was allowed to recover in Haven City and then," he sighed deeply, "Veger snatched you. I remember the look on her face when you went missing. But those four years when she had you, she got to stay in Haven City but she…had to be with someone else and still do dangerous missions. Man," he laughed, "I remember comin' over to see you on weekends. It was great! And even though you were a La'Cour Damas slipped ya into The House of Mar."

Jak looked away. His mind began to go through everything he had been through but didn't remember and suddenly he began to _want_ to remember those past times. The way everyone made things sound made him wants to be there again and wanted things to go back to the way they were so that he could _appreciate_ them this time around.

"Damas was a great guy," Semton said in a dreamy tone. "Loved you with everyin' he had…just like a father should."

Jak, wanting to ask something else, turned to Louin. "Avelli said that you two are leaving after this, where are you going?"

Louin crossed his arms. "There's an area not too far from this place where there's a small group of Metal Heads left over. Our troop has to clean them out and then recover a broken Precursor Ring that's been there for years. As soon as that's done, we're moving to another continent."

"_We're_?" Daxter repeated.

"You're going with her?" Jak hissed as he gripped his fists together. That thought just angered him so much and he didn't know why and frankly he didn't care _why_ it did.

Louin looked away. "I was hoping she'd adopt me but I've already turned eighteen. She's all I've got right now."

"Why's that?" Daxter asked without thinking as usual.

"My real parents left me in the wastelands to die when I was five years old. I was going to die when Avelli found me," Louin hissed, not liking to talk about it. "Since then she's been taking care of me but never got around to adopting me."

"You're still a part of the family!" Semton walked over to him and hit him on the back of the head playfully. "Just like Jak here!"

"What about me?" Daxter asked.

"You too Daxie-boy!"

Moments later, the race had finished and the group was walking over to Avelli's car where it was parked next to Kleiver's because of their tie win. Jak lagged behind a bit, and grabbed Semton's shoulder causing him to turn around to him.

"What?" Semton asked.

"I have more questions to ask you," Jak said in a low tone so that no one else would hear it.

"There's someone in your town that can answer a few of your questions," he answered back in a low tone. "It's Jinx."

"JINX?!" Jak and Daxter asked at the same time.

"Yeah, that ass knows a lot more about your mom then he's letting on. He might even know some things I don't." Semton shrugged. "Just ask him."

"Thanks."

"Well," Avelli jumped out of her car, "now that we know who's going to Kras City, it looks like I have to get going."

"Who's going?" Daxter stood up straight on Jak's shoulder.

"Semton." Kleiver rolled his eyes. "As always this little bugga gets to go and show off to the La'Cour family!"

"Why do _you_ want to be the La'Cour family representative?" Semton asked, placing his hands on his hips.

"'Cause you get a big payoff!" Kleiver rubbed his index and middle fingers together on his right hand. "And I needs the money."

"I'll see you there then." Avelli moved her hand back and forth. "Louin and I need to get going before sunset or we'll never get there. Jak, I've got an invitation for you to come to Kras City in a year, I want you to come."

"You're going right?" Jak asked.

"Yeah we just can't be seen together all of the time." Avelli shrugged. "Nothing big really, I mean it's nothing more then what we're doing now."

"Almost all of the La'Cour kids are gonna be there!" Semton grinned. "You can meet the rest of your family while you're there! The best of the family's gonna be there! You can meet your Uncle Cricket and Aunt Brin!"

"_They're_ coming this year?" Avelli twitched. "Anyways, we're heading off now so we'll see you in a year!"

"Wait!" Jak walked over to her. "That's it? You're just gonna up and leave like that?"

"I _have_ too." Avelli pulled him over, knocking Daxter off of his shoulders and hugged him tightly. "You're everything I used to be. All of my strength, love, courage, and rebellion. You're part of the only person I loved with all of my heart and now you're the only remaining part of him. I love you Mar…Jak. Forget about this part of you and please, _please_ be happy. I know Damas would be proud."

Avelli pulled away, and without looking at the rest of the group, she climbed into the passenger side of the car, while Louin started the engine. Everyone waved, and yelled even though the engine killed out all of the words. The car spit up sand and then sped off over the hills of sand and disappeared.

"We have to go see Jinx," Jak said to Daxter.

"Let's hurry up and get this over with!" Daxter sighed.

"Hey Jak!" Semton called. "I live in Haven City in the slums area! Why don't you look me up some time alright?"

"Yeah!" Jak jumped into the car he had come in. "I'll see you guys later!"

Jak started his engine and sped off towards the transporter where he was taken to Haven City and headed towards the Naught Ottsel to try and find Jinx. All while Daxter talked on his shoulder but his words fell on deaf ears once more, because of Jak's thoughts that were elsewhere.

_Jinx should have the answer to my question._ Jak thought. _But why the hell Jinx? What does he have to do with this?_

* * *

R&R please! 


	5. Something of Interest

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Semton, Louin, and Axel.

Thank you all for your reviews! I love reading what you guys think about this so I'll update as often as I can! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

Jak and Daxter arrived back in Haven City once more, and quickly rode his hover board towards the Naughty Ottsel, hoping that Jinx would be there. Jak put his board away right at the door and walked in.

"Jinx?" he called as he walked in. "Jinx are you in here?"

"Over here Blondie!" Jinx called from a side booth.

Jak and Daxter walked over to the booth closest to the bar to see Jinx sitting down, drinking and smoking as usual. Jak took a seat on the opposite side of Jinx while Daxter jumped off of his shoulder and onto the table.

"What's up?" Jinx asked, taking the cigar from his mouth.

"Semton told me to talk to you about Avelli," Jak answered plainly. "I want to know more about her past."

"Semton, never did like me." Jinx sighed. "Avelli 'eh?"

"Yeah!" Daxter crossed his arms. "What do you know that we don't?"

"A lot." Jinx laughed. "Where should I start?"

"Tell me what happened before I was born," Jak hissed, thinking that Jinx wasn't taking anything seriously.

"Alright, alright." Jinx moved his hand back and forth. "Let's see, well all La'Cour's are promised to another who's in another'a mob family and take a guess who she was supposed to marry." He grinned.

Jak blinked as his mouth slightly dropped. Daxter looked between the two, not figuring it out as fast as Jak had.

"Who?" Daxter asked, looking around.

"You're lookin' at him!" Jinx laughed once more. He then leaned back against the booth. "Yup, I was supposed to marry her once she turned nineteen but," he shook his head, "we were more friends then anythin' else. Anyways she met Damas when she was 'round…eighteen. Damas was nineteen and was 'upposed to be her first kill for the family but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She tried over and over again but couldn't do it."

"Damn these women are difficult!" Daxter interjected.

Jinx grinned. "Tell me about it! Anyways, they messed around and dated for about a year before she got caught with him. It happened right before we were gonna get married and Damas had just startin' to lose control of Haven City. Little did anyone know that they had already gotten married. After her Dad, Jak—"

"JAK!?" Daxter yelled, perking up. "His name was Jak too?"

"Yeah." Jinx shook his head back and forth. "Weird 'eh? Movin' on, her Dad sent her on one last assassination mission, and then sent her out on the battlefield to fight Metal Heads until the day your pop died. She came back once in awhile but always mess around with Damas until she turned thirty-five and got knocked up with you."

"Ew." Daxter twitched.

"They were together for seventeen years." Jak looked away.

Avelli and Damas had been together for seventeen years when she finally got pregnant with him. Seventeen years off and on, Avelli coming back from the fighting field, and Damas busy with Spargus were most likely the biggest reasons why Jak didn't come in until seventeen years later.

"Twenty-one if you wanna count the years after you were born but during those years she was married to someone else." Jinx coughed and looked away. "Her Dad was pissed and sent her back to fight until she was seven months pregnant but told everyone she was nine to get her out early. Then she came back to Haven, got married to someone else, and lived in Haven City until the day you were kidnapped or whatever, I don't know much about that 'cause I was workin' for Krew. By then Damas had been exiled from Haven and was working on Spargus and you know the rest."

"Who did she marry?" Jak asked, somewhat irritated because he had heard all of this before.

Jinx looked away. "I doubt she'd want me to tell ya that."

Jak slammed his fist down onto the table. "Dammit Jinx! This is important!"

"Look here," Jinx moved his index and middle finger towards Jak, "that's the one thing she made me promise _not_ to tell you about. I ain't gonna tell you that but there is something important that I _do_ think you should know."

"At least we're getting something!" Daxter squeaked.

Jinx moved in towards the table, causing Jak and Daxter to do the same. "Her last assassination was Ashelin's mother, Luveni. Ashelin doesn't know and she's doesn't need to, I'm telling you this so you can understand what Avelli's had to do in the past. She's not someone you wanna mess with."

Jak blinked. His mother had taken the life of another mother when she was one. A part of him couldn't understand why his mother would do something like that but then he thought of the deeds he had done in the past and tried to justify it in his mind.

He figured he'd better get off the subject. "She's been fighting in the Wastelands for sixteen years, that's where she's been this whole time right?"

Jinx nodded. "Yeah," he took a puff from his cigar, "she was put there after you went missing and came back to Haven once in awhile to try and look for you. She always had that Louin kid with her."

"What's his issue anyway?" Daxter asked.

"She found him when she was twenty-eight when he was five and she decided that she couldn't leave him out there on his own." Jinx shrugged. "She stayed with him until she returned to Haven and couldn't give him up."

"But why hasn't she adopted him?" Jak sat back in his seat.

"She doesn't want him havin' the La'Cour name and I don't blame her," Sig said, coming into the conversation. "You tellin' him everything Jinx?"

"No." He shook his head and placed his cigar in his mouth once more.

"Good."

"What do you mean good?" Jak hissed.

"You don't need to know everythin' about Avelli." Sig slightly raised his voice.

"Why not?" Daxter said, breaking into everything.

"You just don't! If you go around snooping you might find out something you don't like!" Sig hissed, now fully irritated.

Jak slammed his hand onto the table and stood up. "If your not going to tell me anything then I'm leaving. I've got an idea of who will now."

Jinx leaned back and placed his feet on the table. "Avelli's fifty miles away towards the west. There's an outpost there, can't miss it."

"Thanks." Daxter jumped on Jak's shoulder as he spoke.

He hated being thrown back and forth. Here he was _again_ going to talk to someone else. He was so tried of this, but knew that he couldn't give up. He wanted to know everything about his mother and what she was hiding and _why_ it was so important or _why_ he couldn't know everything.

Jak walked away from the table, and left the bar, leaving Sig and Jinx behind. Sig waited until Jak had completely left the bar to turn around to Jinx and shoot a glare towards him.

"What?" Jinx asked, catching the taller man's glare.

"You shouldn't have lead on about anything." Sig turned away. "Now he's gonna be off chasin' the past. I doubt he wants to find out who his step-father is legally, or anythin' like that."

Jinx moved his right hand back and forth. "Don't worry! He won't find out!"

* * *

Jak drove for hours in the 'Sand Shark' towards the west, and keeping his eyes on the travel meter sitting on his dashboard. Daxter had been usually quiet on the trip so Jak had to keep himself entertained by thinking of the good times that he had lived through.

Night turned to day, and now the sun was high in the sky and was pounding down onto Jak and Daxter. Suddenly, ahead of them he could see a large metal overhang with cars parked next to it.

"Finally!" Daxter said, breaking the silence.

Jak drove over to the lot, parked his car and ran over to the overhang. As he got closer and closer, he saw wounded people underneath the overhang, yelling and screaming. He ran into the overhang and saw up close the wounded that were being treated.

"What the—" Jak froze.

"What are you doing here?" a man yelled, walking over towards him.

Jak stiffed up. "I'm looking for Avelli. Where is she?"

"Out in the field! Are you the message boy?" the man asked.

"Yeah." Jak grinned.

A strong wind blew through the open overhang, carrying sand with it as well. Everyone inside of the overhang covered their faces and ears, trying to prevent the sand from entering into their bodies.

"Fine!" the man yelled over the wind and sand. "Tell Avelli to hurry up and lead the troops towards the tower! We're ready to take the Precursor Ring!"

"I will!" Jak yelled back.

Jak turned away from the man, and began to run out into the desert. He looked out but couldn't see anything out in front of him but more sand. Fearing that he would lose Daxter, he tucked him into one of his straps, covered his mouth with his bandana, and moved his goggles over his eyes.

"How are we gonna get there?!" Daxter yelled, hiding in the strap.

Looking ahead once more only this time without getting sand in his eyes, he saw a tall pole with a bright red flag at the very top waving in the wind.

"With that I guess!" Jak answered back.

He stepped forward, then stepped once more and found how hard it was to walk in sand even more so now that it was also blowing back in his face. He looked up, walking towards every red flag pole, tagged it, and then moved on over and over again. Suddenly he saw a small group of people in front of him hiding behind a small hill of sand.

That's them! Jak thought.

Jak ran towards the group when he felt rumbling underneath him. He looked around when suddenly a large Metal Head emerged from the sand, flipping him over.

"JAK!!" Daxter yelled.

The blond hit the floor and looked up at the large purple Wasteland Metal Head looking down at him. He remembered fighting Wasteland Metal Heads like this one before with Sig but now being on the ground without any guns or means of escape made his heart to begin race.

The Wasteland Metal Head screamed and fell to the floor at Jak's feet. He looked back towards the crowd of people and saw that they were looking at him and one of them, a man, had a large gun in his hands.

"That…was…too…close." Daxter panted, his heart racing as well.

Jak ignored Daxter's comment and stood up. The group of people looked away once more, and wanting to know who they were, Jak ran over towards the group. The closer and closer he came to them he recognized two faces. Avelli and Louin.

"Avelli!" Jak yelled, coming up to the group.

"Jak!?" she asked through her yellow bandana. "What the hell are you doing here?!"

"I came to give you a message!" Jak yelled over the raging sands. "They want you to get the Precursor Ring! You have to move on to the tower!"

"Fine." She moved her right hand back and forth. "Now get the hell out of here!"

"Avelli!" The man with the large gun who had saved Jak ran over to her. "More Metal Heads right over the dune!"

The man with the large guns was tall, over towering everyone in the group and muscles to join with the height. His dark green, almost blue hair looked as if it had just started growing back from being cut completely off, and his brown eyes were looking down at Jak. He wasn't wearing anything much other then knifes and ammo belts, but he did have a yellow undershirt and large dark green pants tucked into brown combat boots. Around his mouth was a bright blue bandana.

_A La'Cour?_ Jak asked himself as he studied the man.

"Shit." Avelli turned away from Jak. "Go back, you don't need to be here! You're gonna get hurt."

"I'm not leaving!" Jak hissed.

"Jak!" Daxter yelled, tugging on his shirt. "Let's go!"

"We're staying!"

"Avelli." Louin hopped over the dune and landed beside her. A red bandana covered his mouth. "There are only two more Metal Heads over this, the tower is clear now. We've got to get over there before nightfall."

"Right." Avelli nodded.

She grabbed a grenade off of her side, pulled the pin with her teeth, and threw it over the dune.

"Down!" Louin ducked along with the rest of the group.

She counted three seconds, heard an explosion, and then looked over the dune to see a fallen Wasteland Metal Head.

"One down." She ducked back down and began to load her shotgun. "One to go."

"Avelli," Jak crawled over to her, still weary from the grenade, "give me a gun."

"You're gonna leave." Avelli pointed towards him. "I mean it."

"I'm staying," Jak said firmly.

Avelli shook her head and looked away. "Dammit boy, you're just as stubborn as your Father."

Not wanting to carry on the conversation, Avelli moved up over the dune once more and began to fire towards the last Wasteland Metal Head. Jak sat there and watched, wanting to fight along side everyone. He could feel Daxter tugging on his shirt, trying to get his attention but he ignored him.

"Intercept the dark bombs!" the man with the large guns yelled.

Jak looked upwards into the sandy sky and saw large black and purple bombs flying through the air, and over towards them. He moved his eyes towards Avelli and the others to see them shooting up towards the sky, hitting the bombs that came towards them.

Avelli fired and hit a bomb, and moved her shotgun once more to fire only to discover that sand had entered the barrel and it was now jammed. She clicked it back once then again but it lead to the same outcome.

"Shit." She ducked back behind the dune. "My gun's jammed."

"I'll take out as many as I can!" the man yelled.

"JAK!" Louin yelled, causing Jak to look over at him.

Before Jak could move or even answer the orange haired boy back, Louin had ran into him and knocked him a few feet backwards. Jak saw the ground, sand ridden sky, and then ground again while he snapped out of his dizziness.

"What a ride!" Daxter shook his head back and forth.

"Louin! Louin wake up already!!" Avelli yelled.

Jak looked over towards where he had been and saw Louin laying on the ground with blood pouring out of his right leg. The ground beneath him was a light purple color with hints of black hues.

"Louin?" Jak asked, running over towards him.

"Come on!" Avelli grabbed Louin's shoulders and began shaking him. "Louin! Wake up! Axel," Avelli turned towards the tall man, "watch the Metal Head!"

"Yes," the tall man, Axel, responded before running over the dune.

He had taken the shot for him. Jak stood in disbelief as he watched his mother shake another boy, worried because of something _he_ had done. Jak walked over to the two and bent down to Louin's head.

"Dammit! I don't have any White Eco," Avelli hissed, looking down at the bleeding wound. She ripped the bandana off of her face and wrapped it around his bleeding leg.

"You need something over your mouth and nose!" Jak yelled towards the older woman. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out another red bandana and handed it towards her.

"Thanks." Avelli wrapped it around her face.

Louin's eyes flickered open. "Avelli? Jak…is he alright?"

"Fine," she said with a sigh of relief. "Are you hurt anywhere besides your leg?"

"No." He shook his head and sat up. "I don't think I'll be able to walk with this injury. You'll have to leave me here. I can crawl back to the overhang."

"Listen to yourself!" Avelli yelled. "You think I'm gonna leave you here to _crawl_? That bomb must have hit you harder then I thought! Axel's gonna carry you to the tower and back just hang on!"

"He has to carry the ring." Louin looked away.

"We're having others come! Everything will be fine as soon as we kill the last Metal Head! There are troops waiting for us at the tower!" Avelli shook her head.

Axel came back over the dune and walked over to the group. Without being told he picked up Louin and moved him so that he was behind him with his legs wrapped around the taller man's waist and his arms around his neck.

"Let the damaged leg hang!" Axel ordered. "I'll try and keep the sand out of it!"

"He took the hit for me…," Jak said in a low whisper.

"Maybe he's not such a bad guy after all." Daxter added.

"Move out!" Avelli yelled. "Come on Jak, if you really wanna come that bad then hurry up, we might need your help."

"Finally!!" Daxter slipped back into the strap that kept him from flying away.

The small group crossed the now empty land, stepping over dead Metal Heads until Jak could see a large tower in the middle of the sandy horizon. They moved towards the tower, and entered without anything else happening, and once inside entered a large room filled with men dressed like Axel.

"Wow," Jak and Daxter said at the same time.

The inner tower was a huge open area with a waterfall leading into a small pool in the back that looked like a sewer system. The walls were brick and looked green from mold and old age. Men lined up near the water, talking and taking care of wounds they had gotten from the Metal Head fight. Jak looked towards his left and saw a large metal door, which three men were working on breaking down.

"I'm surprised the Metal Heads haven't destroyed this place yet," Jak said as he looked around.

"Yeah since it looks like it's gonna fall apart any second!" Daxter looked around also.

"Jak!" Avelli called. "Come here."

Feeling like he was being called to be punished by a parent, which he was, for the first time, he walked over towards her, Daxter following. Axel stepped up behind Avelli as she waited for Jak.

"Jak, this is your eldest uncle, Axel Sen La'Cour. He for some reason is unusually tall for a male in our family but," she shrugged, "sometimes genes are weird."

"Hey." Jak crossed his arms, feeling a bit out of his league.

"Hey back." Axel laughed a bit. "Nice to finally meet you in person Jak, I've heard a lot about you lately and your little rat friend."

"Hey!" Daxter hissed.

"Excuse me, I've got a door to work on." Axel moved away from the group and walked over to the metal door.

"He's in a great mood," Jak said after Axel moved out of earshot.

"As always." Avelli sighed. "Behind that metal door is a basement, leading to the Precursor Ring. We might need your help when it comes to moving it since Louin is out of commission."

Jak looked away. "Where is he? I'd like to talk to him."

"Over near the water." Avelli sighed. "He'll be fine he just needs rest."

"Hey rat boy! Come here!" Axel yelled. "We need your help with something!"

"Fine." Daxter crossed his arms. He looked up towards Jak, "I'll be right back."

Daxter walked away from his life long friend and over towards the door where Axel told him what he needed him to do. Jak walked over and spotted Louin with his leg in the small pool, cleaning it out. Jak walked towards him and sat down beside him.

"What?" Louin asked with a sigh. "Lemme guess, you want to know why I pushed you out of the way right?"

"Yeah." Jak blinked.

Louin looked away. "Avelli cares for you a great deal and I'm not going to see her get hurt from something I could prevent. I don't want to see her cry like she did when she found out about Damas."

Jak looked away as well. "I owe you one."

The two sat there, not speaking to one another. Though they looked so different they now both clung to Avelli and saw her as a mother figure, making them somewhat like brothers even though they would never treat one another like a brother. They each had been too long without a family, and they weren't going to start acting like they had one even though both of them did.

* * *

R&R please! 


	6. The First Time

I don't own Jak and Daxter, or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Louin, Semton, Cirana, and Axel.

Thanks for the reviews! I hope this story will turn out well and that everyone will like it. Sorry if somethings are a bit confusing, I have to edit this to keep it under the Teen rating but maybe I'll boost the rating up when more things start to happen.

* * *

"Jak, Louin!" Avelli called out to the boys. "We got the door open! We're going down!"

"You'd better go with her." Louin closed his eyes. "They're going to need help lifting it and I'm out of commission."

"Fine." Jak stood. "We'll be back."

"Don't let her get hurt," Louin hissed.

Jak ignored his comment and walked over to where the metal door _had_ been. It was now lying on the floor with Daxter sitting on top of it, panting.

"Good job Dax." Jak reached down to the Ottsel, picked him up, and placed him on his right shoulder.

"Better be!" Daxter managed to say through his panting.

Avelli walked over towards Jak and handed him a large, red gun. "Here it's all we've got that still has ammo. Take care of it, these damn things jam easily."

"Right." Jak moved it over his left shoulder. "Don't worry about it."

Avelli turned to the rest of the group. "Move out!"

The group consisting of Jak, Daxter, Axel, Avelli, and three more men Jak didn't know stepped over to where the door had been to see a long staircase winding downwards. Avelli stepped to the front of the group with Axel behind her then turned around.

"Jak," she began, "I want you to watch the back of the group in case anything comes at us from behind."

"Right." Jak moved to the back of the line, a bit irritated.

"Let's move." Avelli turned back around.

The group moved forward once more and thinned out into a single file line. Their footsteps echoed through the empty stairwell as Jak tried not to get dizzy from going in circles over and over again. He thought that the winding stairs would never end but it did quite suddenly, and the stairs led down into a large room.

"Here we are." Avelli walked forward and studied the room.

Jak moved in slowly and saw the room. It was small with a few machines around the room but the largest object in the room was a rusted Precursor Ring that was laid down flat in the middle of the room.

"Wow…" Jak walked over towards it. It looked exactly like the one that had brought him into the future three years ago.

"Looks familiar doesn't it?" Daxter asked, stepping up beside his friend.

"Yeah." Jak blinked.

"We'll have to turn it on," Axel said as he too walked over towards the ring. "But be careful, we have no idea what will happen when we do turn it on. Just try not to fall in."

"Why not?" Daxter asked, placing his fuzzy hands on his hips.

"Because it's a broken Precursor Ring it transports you to different timelines randomly," Axel explained. "Once you fall in there's no grantee you'll ever get back to your original timeline, and even if you do you'll be thrown back and forth between other timelines. It's a real pain in the ass to say the least."

"Timeline," Jak whispered as he stared at the ring.

"Let's flip it on!" One of the unknown men yelled.

The blue light Jak had looked into when he entered the future came on once more inside of the ring only now it was a dark blue. The ripple didn't start in the middle as it had before, but on the outside and towards the middle, creating an odd looking effect.

Avelli walked over to the side of the ring and looked at it. "Looks like it works well. Alright, turn it off and let's move it already."

Suddenly the tower shook. Everyone became quiet and looked around, waiting for something else to happen. In the silence the tower moved violently towards the north, moving everyone towards the wall, and forced Jak, Daxter, and Axel to topple over into the Precursor Ring.

"Dammit!" Axel yelled. He reached over towards Jak as he fell, and grabbed his upper left arm tightly. Jak got the message and held tightly to Daxter.

"Not again!" Daxter whined.

"Jak!" Avelli yelled. "Cut the power! Hurry up!"

One of the men ran over to the power source and pushed a red button, and the light inside of the ring disappeared but the three men did not appear.

"Shit!" Avelli slammed her fists down onto the hard ground. "Shit, shit, SHIT!! Now what the hell are we supposed to do!? SHIT!"

* * *

The blueness passed the three men over and over again as Axel held to Jak tightly in his hand. Jak couldn't help but stare forward as the light came into his eyes, reminding him of the light he had seen when he was younger.

"We're in deep shit I hope you know that!" Axel yelled. "Just keep close, we're gonna end up somewhere random!"

"Dammit!" Jak hissed.

The white light in front of them soon engulfed the three and blinded them for a few moments. When Jak finally managed to open his eyes he saw that he was standing in the middle of a sunny Haven City. In front of him was the building where he had taken The Test of Manhood, but the building looked different, in fact, Haven City looked brighter and the people seemed happier almost.

"Haven City?" Daxter asked, hopping away from Jak. "Why is everything so happy here!? Is this really Haven City? Cause the people look _way_ too happy."

"This is Haven City alright," Axel said looking around.

"It's too bright and clean to be Haven City!" Daxter looked towards the building with the statue of Mar on the top only to see a large group of people standing in front of the door. "What's goin' on over there?"

"Let's check it out." Jak began to walk forward when Axel pulled him back.

"Hold on there for a sec." Axel stepped beside the blond boy. "I say we sneak around to the back door."

"Back door?" Jak and Daxter asked at once.

"Yeah, I've got an idea of what's going on here and I don't like it." Axel moved in front of the boys. "Come on."

Daxter looked up towards Jak who shrugged and then walked off after Axel. Daxter sighed and shook his head, and then walked towards the other two.

Axel led them around the group and into a corner with a large hole at the bottom of a thick wall. He bent down, got on his hands and knees, and began to crawl through the hole.

"Come on you two."

Jak sighed but followed, while Daxter just walked on through without having to bend over and a smile on his face. The hole was rather short and after a few moments the three ended up near a ramp. Axel quickly sprinted up the ramp, as well as Jak with Daxter on his shoulder. The ramp led to a hidden overhang that allowed a view down into the entrance room of the building.

"This is where you take The Test of Manhood," Axel explained. "If we're where I think we are, then someone you know will be finishing his test just about now."

Jak and Daxter looked over the edge of the overhang and saw a young man walk out of the doors Jak had once walked out of during his first adventure in Haven City. The man walked into the middle of the room and sighed.

He was tall, with a slight darkened color staining his skin and bright blond hair that was tied back against his head and around his face in odd places. He looked as if he had been hurt a few times, but he held steady to the sliver walking stick that stood beside him. His clothes were what caught Jak's attention for they looked similar to Wastelander clothing and that's when Jak pieced everything together.

"Damas…," he said breathlessly.

"Right," Axel answered, not taking his eyes off of the young Damas. "That's him, we're back twenty-one years."

"Damn." Daxter hopped onto the overhang's edge.

"That means that Avelli will be here soon." Axel looked around the room. "Dammit if she sees us we're dead."

"_Dead_?!" Daxter yelled.

"SHH!" Axel grabbed Daxter's mouth and covered it. "We can't mess up this timeline! If we're seen when we're not supposed to be Jak might not be born or something worse! We gotta stay hidden." He whispered. "Got it?"

Daxter nodded his head, and Axel let him go. Jak turned away from the two and looked down towards Damas. His father was just standing there, and he was just a few feet away from him. Future and past were so close to one another and all Jak wanted to do was reach out towards his father and tell him everything to try and prevent what had just happened three months ago.

"Dad," Jak whispered.

Everything quickly changed. Damas jumped to the side, alerting everyone on the overhang. All of a sudden, a young woman jumped down beside him and took a quick swing at him, which he avoided.

"I was wondering where you were Avelli," Damas said with a slight laugh. "You always seem to show up at important events."

Jak looked at the young Avelli who was standing with two small knifes in both of her hands. Her hair was now tied back into a low ponytail that hit her back and three strands hanging over her eyes. She was wearing something similar to what she had been wearing the last time Jak had seen her in his timeline, an orange tank-top and baggy black pants tucked into combat boots.

"It's my job," she said with a grin. "So The House of Mar considers you a man now?"

"I've passed the test." Damas managed a small grin. "I am now the leader of The House of Mar."

"Congratulations." Avelli moved the knives in her hand.

"I do have to add that you look beautiful today." Damas looked a bit nervous. "I mean the way the shadows cast on your face makes…your features stand out."

Avelli blushed. "Shut up! You're just trying to distract me."

The doors that stood next to the two opened, causing them both to look towards them. Five men ran into the room, and stopped in their tracks when they saw Avelli standing there.

"A La'Cour!" one man yelled. "She must be trying to kill Damas! Get her!"

Another man grabbed a knife off of his hip and threw it towards Avelli, hitting her on her right shoulder. She hissed, and grabbed her shoulder as blood poured down from it.

"Avelli." Damas moved towards her but she took a step backwards.

"Don't," she hissed. Her left hand reached down into her nearby pocket and pulled out a small brown bag. "Dammit, I'll have to try again."

"Wait a moment Avelli." Damas took another step towards her.

Without saying another word Avelli threw the bag she was holding onto the floor causing a large, thick smoke to emerge. Seeing this, Axel grabbed Jak and Daxter, and led them down the ramp and out of the building once more.

"She's going to head to our headquarters," Axel said looking around.

"Then let's go." Jak began to walk forward.

"Wait, maybe we should walk around a bit more to see if we skip into another timeline." Axel shook his head. "There isn't any point in following Avelli around."

"There _is_ a point," Jak hissed. "We've got nothing else to but follow her so I'm going. You can come if you want."

Axel sighed. "Fine kid, you've got a point. We've got to get in."

Jak smiled but it soon faded. This was his chance to finally figure out what his mother was hiding or what everyone else was hiding from him. He didn't have to ask anyone anything anymore; he was going to solve this once and for all.

Spotting what he wanted, Axel walked over to a clothing store and grabbed three dark pieces of cloth. He walked back over towards Jak and threw one over his head, and then ripped his and placed it over Daxter.

"The La'Cour hideout accepts homeless people during the day," Axel explained as he wrapped the cloth around himself. "We'll go in and keep our faces hidden and pretend to be homeless."

"We can do that." Daxter wrapped the cloth around his face tightly. "Right Jak?"

"Yeah." Jak made sure to cover his hairline.

"Let's go." Axel wrapped the cloth around his mouth and hairline.

Jak followed Axel as he led him to the same place where Torn once set up the Underground and found it strange that it was the same place. He also found it strange that there weren't any KG's walking around nor the large red machines with the Baron's voice announcing things.

"The streets look clean but the people are still corrupted," Axel said, moving back towards Jak. "Right now gangs are in high command of the place and The House of Mar is trying to bring it down without the people of Haven knowing. He didn't get the gangs down, the Baron eventually became good friends with them and used the gangs to get rid of Damas."

"He used the gangs?" Jak asked, growing surprised.

"Mostly the La'Cour's and Jinx's family, the Merono's." Axel coughed. "They pushed The House of Mar out of Haven and forced Damas into the desert where he started Spargus."

The La'Cour's…the family where he had a child was the family that helped kick him out of Haven City. How could he have still loved Avelli after what her family had done to him? Jak wondered.

The three walked up to the door, and it slid open just as Jak remembered it. They walked down the small walkway, and into the main room where the bunk beds still lined the front and a desk sat in the back. Axel moved to the closest bunk bed to the desk and sat down.

"Still stinks in here," Daxter muttered to Jak.

Jak laughed a bit and then looked around to see other people dressed like him sitting on the bunk beds or sleeping. He kept looking around until Avelli came out from the back room and sat down on the desk.

"Hurry up Jinx!" she yelled.

"Jinx?" Jak whispered.

A young blond haired boy walked over to where Avelli was with a roll of bandages in his right hand and a small red box in his other. He was shorter then Jak remembered, and wasn't as muscular. Jak could also see that Jinx had a lip piercing on his lower lip.

"Just hold for a damn second Avelli!" Jinx hissed as he walked over to her.

Avelli lowered the strap on her shirt, revealing a deep bleeding wound. Jinx hissed as his looked at it, and quickly covered it with gauze. Avelli sighed and looked away from the young Jinx.

"I couldn't do it again," she hissed. "Dammit what the hell is wrong with me? If I don't do it soon my Dad's gonna kill me."

"I think you should keep delayin' it." Jinx began to wrap her shoulder up with bandages. "That way we don't hafta get married any time soon."

Avelli sighed. "Yeah I guess you're right about that. It just pisses me off that I can't kill him."

"Why can't you?"

Avelli blushed. "I don't know. There's just something about him."

Jinx twitched. "Why are you blushin' about it?"

"He's handsome that's all. I've never met a man like him that talks the way he does or acts like him. I've been spying on him for so long that I've seen him and the way he acts with others. It's strange." Avelli's blush grew.

"Ew," Daxter whispered.

"Sh!" Jak covered his friend's mouth.

"Your Dad is coming here tonight to check up on you." Jinx moved away from her wound and sat down beside her. "What are you going to tell him?"

"I'm going to The House of Mar's Palace before he gets here." Avelli stood. "I'm going to try and kill him once more."

"Really?" Jinx blinked.

"Really, really." Avelli smiled.

"Damn." Axel stood up, grabbed Jak, and walked out with him, talking out loud about having to all of a sudden go to the bathroom so Avelli and Jinx wouldn't think anything of it.

Axel led the other two outside and started walking quickly down the street. Jak removed the cloth from around his mouth and looked at Axel strangely.

"We have to get into the Palace," Jak insisted.

"That's gonna be hard kiddo." Axel shook his head back and forth. "I think we should worry more about finding away out of here more then anything else. I don't wanna be stuck here chasin' Avelli all day long."

Jak looked away. Axel had a point. No matter how badly Jak wanted to find out everything about himself and his Mother he had to find a way back to his own timeline before something went wrong.

"Got an idea of someone we can talk to or something?" Jak asked.

"One. My sister, Cirana." Axel took a sharp turn and walked towards the market. "She's the know-it-all of the family. Hopefully she'll know something about how to get out of here or _something_ useful."

"What about Avelli and Damas?" Daxter asked. "I wanna know what happens!"

"We'll worry about that later," Axel answered, taking another turn into the middle of the market. "Now if I'm right, Cirana lived somewhere around here selling food or something stupid like that."

A loud bang caught their, and everyone else around them, attention. They looked towards the left and saw a young woman picking up fallen fruits and apologizing over and over again.

"That's her." Axel sighed. "I'm going over there so stay here. She shouldn't think anything's up because she's kind of slow when putting things together. I'll be right back, don't move, or talk to anyone."

"Sir yes sir." Daxter stood up and saluted him.

"Watch it rat," Axel hissed.

Jak laughed slightly at Daxter but his eyes were focused on the woman who would be his aunt. She was short and looked very young, perhaps sixteen or seventeen with blue hair that was tied back into a high ponytail with long bangs coming down on either side of her face. Her blue eyes were covered with a thin pair of clear glasses that framed her face and in Jak's mind, made her cute. She was wearing a baggy black top and normal looking white pants with slippers.

"Oh hey Axel," she said scratching the back of her head while Jak moved a bit closer to hear what they were saying. "What's up?"

"What do you know about broken Precursor Rings?" Axel asked bluntly.

"Well I know not to fall in one." She laughed. "But I know that once you do fall in them you're transported to another timeline for six hours, then hop to your original one, then once more six hours later only to a different one. I don't know how to stop it though, why?"

Axel looked around. "I don't know, just heard something about it and was wondering." He lied. "Well thanks." He grabbed three apples. "I'll be seeing you around alright?"

"Remember that Dad's coming over to the base to talk to us all," she said, moving her index finger.

"_Right_. I'll be there."

The tall man walked away from his little sister of the past and back over towards Jak. As they began to walk away, Axel handed an apple of each of them.

"We've got six hours," he said. "Let's go wait at the tower to see what happens with your mom and dad."

"That nice but how are we gonna get in?" Daxter asked, chewing on his apple.

"I've got an idea." Axel grinned.

* * *

The three walked up to the tower, Jak in handcuffs and Daxter hidden underneath Jak's hood. Axel led Jak by the handcuffs and walked over to what Jak knew as the Baron's tower. Axel spotted a guard and walked over to him.

"Frisco Malor reporting. I caught this kid sneaking around the garden, gonna take him in for questioning," Axel said, showing an ID with his fake name on it.

The guard studied the ID, then Axel. "Right in Malor, nice job." The guard said stepping to the side.

"Come on." Axel tugged on Jak's cuffs.

Axel moved forward with Jak and Daxter into the tower. They walked through a long red hallway and into a door with the words, "Officials Only". Looking around to make sure no one was there, Axel sighed.

"How did we just get in?" Daxter asked, popping out of Jak's hood.

"I used to spy here back in my younger days." Axel rubbed his temples. "I have a fake ID made every year in case I need to use my old identity. Because I'm still in the system here, the guards know my name."

Axel walked over to a large computer sitting in the corner of the large, lounge like room. He pushed down a button on the computer and began searching through the files, while mumbling to himself.

"Damas' room has a security room and if I can put that I'm on patrol there tonight, no one will bother them and we can see what will happen," Axel said, as Jak walked over to see what he was doing.

"Hey! Isn't that messing with the timeline!?" Daxter asked jumping on the desk the computer was on.

"To tell the truth yes but I remember this." Axel grinned. "I remember Avelli not being there when our Dad came to the base and she got in shit loads of trouble. Now if she spent the night here she would have gotten caught but I think that we were meant to be here. Without us Avelli could get caught and killed."

"You think that quickly?" Daxter held his head as he tried to process everything the older man had just said.

"Have to." Axel entered his name. "There, I'm on patrol tonight. Come on, let's get food and hang out up there, no one's there now."

Night had finally fallen, and by Axel's watch, they had twenty to fifteen more minutes before they would be thrown back to their timeline. They had eaten all of the food they had stolen from the vending machines, and were growing bored. Damas was now sleeping in his large bed next to a balcony unaware of the future that was sitting above him.

"Dammit hurry up Avelli." Axel shook his head. "Only a few more minutes."

"Maybe we've messed up the timeline." Jak thought out loud.

"Kid as long as you're still here everything is okay in the future." Axel sighed and looked at his watch once more.

The sound of the balcony window opening caught their attention. Avelli sunk into the room and began to walk over towards Damas when he sat up. Avelli froze as he got up, walked into the bathroom and came out a few minutes later with a brown box in his hands.

"Sit down Avelli," he said gently.

"What?" She twitched. "I'm here to kill you Damas."

He laughed a bit. "That's what you have been saying for the past four months."

"Shut up," she hissed.

"Just sit down."

Jak stood there, wondering what his mother was going to do. Was she going to kill him? Or was she going to sit down and do something else? He stood on edge worried that something might go wrong when Avelli moved forward, and sat down on his bed.

"Is this gonna get dirty?" Daxter covered his mouth.

Damas walked over towards her, and pulled down the strap on her right shoulder. She hissed in pain, as he began to remove the bandages Jinx had wrapped around it earlier. Bit by bit he took them all off, and then the gauze so he could see her wound.

"I am sorry for what my guard did," Damas said. He pressed another piece of gauze against her arm with peroxide on it, which caused her to hiss once more and grip the covers underneath her.

"What…what the hell are you doing?" Avelli turned her head away from him. "You know I _have_ to kill you. Why the hell are you being so nice to me? You're from The House of Mar and I'm a La'Cour, what kind of game are you trying to play? Are you just bored up here? Is that it?"

"Why are you angry?" Damas placed a clean pad of gauze on her shoulder.

"I want you to fight me with anger!" Avelli whispered loudly. "I want you to hate me and force me to kill you! Make me kill you dammit so I won't hate myself for it!"

Damas began to wrap her shoulder with the clean bandages but Avelli quickly grabbed it and threw it across the room.

"Why the hell are you treating me like this!?" Avelli demanded.

Damas moved his hands up to her face and gently touched her chin, making her look at him. A blush came across her face from his hands but disappeared as her anger took her over once more.

"I want to know the woman who will take my life," he whispered. "I was told my life would be taken by a La'Cour at an early age, and I want to know the La'Cour that will do so."

He pulled her face in towards hers, and their lips met softy. Avelli's eyes widened from the randomness and surprise of the act but she closed her eyes as she realized that _this _was what she wanted.

"We'll be leaving in a few seconds!" Axel grabbed the stunned Jak, and grabbed Daxter to make up for Jak.

Time transfer in… 

_Three… _

_Two…_

_One_

_

* * *

_R&R please! 


	7. Family Secret

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters. I only own Avelli, Louin, and Axel.

Thank you for all of your reviews! All of your questions will be answered so don't worry. Enjoy!

* * *

"What the hell do you mean there's nothing we can do?" Avelli yelled.

She was back at the Naughty Ottsel talking to Samos and Keira who she heard could help them with what had just happened to her son, his best friend, and brother. The Precursor Ring was sitting in her locked up living room with guards sitting around watching it. How they had managed to get _into_ her living room was a whole other matter.

"We need to find a way to get them back!" Avelli pointed out towards the front door.

Samos shook his head. "I don't think there's a way to get them back."

"Well what did Kor do?" Keira asked, cupping her chin with her right hand. "We'll have to find a working Precursor Ring and search for them through the timelines but that could take years!"

"Shit." Avelli covered her eyes with her left hand.

"Calm down." Sig walked over to Avelli. "Jak always get himself in trouble, I'm sure he'll figure a way out of somethin' like this."

"It's my fault." Avelli lowered her head and shook it. "Dammit if I have been watching him…once again I wasn't watching him."

"What I wanna know is why you were out there moving a broken Precursor Ring without authorization." Ashelin said moving towards Avelli. "Did you have any permission to move something like that?"

Avelli turned around to her, and glared at her. "I _had_ authorization so don't push it little girl."

Ashelin drew her gun and pointed it out towards her. "Show me the paperwork. Unless it was an illegal operation."

Reacting quickly Avelli swung her arm up and smacked the gun away from Ashelin's hand. She moved to grab the gun on the other side of her hip and looked up for a moment to see she was looking down the barrel of a different gun.

"Look little girl," Avelli hissed, "my son is missing, along with my brother. I seriously wouldn't piss me off right now anymore then I already am. I really don't give a rat's ass about this paperwork you're talking about so go sit down in the corner while I figure this out right now."

Ashelin looked into Avelli's eyes and saw how serious she was. The rumors of what cold hearted killers the La'Cour's were filled her mind and saw the rumors floating around in Avelli's eyes, proving them true.

Sig stepped in and grabbed Avelli's right shoulder. "Relax Avelli," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "You don't wanna make things worse right now do you?"

Avelli took her gun back and slipped it into it's holster. She walked over to the bar table where Louin was sitting with his leg stretched outwards and leaned against the wall.

"Mar…dammit!" she yelled as she turned around and punched the wall behind her.

* * *

When Jak opened his eyes once more, he wasn't standing inside of the security box above Damas' room, nor was he in the Haven City his eyes had been happy to see; this was the dark, dirty Haven City. This was the dark, dank port.

"We're back!" Daxter hopped off of Jak's shoulder and onto the floor. "Damn it's cold here."

"I wonder where Avelli is." Axel looked around the area.

"Let's head over towards the Naughty Ottsel. If she's not in there, there's bound to be someone else in there that can help us," Jak said, walking forward.

Arriving in front of the Naughty Ottsel, the front door opened, and the three time travelers walked into the bar. Avelli perked up when she saw him, and ran over towards him. He stood there; not knowing what she was going to do but his question was soon answered as she wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

"You're okay," she said happily. "You're okay!!"

"You honestly think that I would let something happen to him?" Axel asked, shaking his head back and forth.

Avelli pushed Jak away and looked at him. "Don't ever do something like that again! I just got you back, I don't wanna lose you again!"

Jak blinked. This feeling that came from the pit of his stomach was strange. He felt bad for making her worry but couldn't understand why. He _never_ felt bad for doing anything he did but seeing how worried about him she was made him feel _bad_ for something he had done on accident.

Avelli moved over towards Axel and hugged him also. "Thank you for watching him."

"You know I'd do it." Axel smiled and hugged her back.

"Enough with the hugging!" Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder and walked over to the bar. "We gotta figure out what we're gonna do! I don't wanna be thrown back and forth over and over again!"

"That's not the only thing we have to worry about," Samos interjected. "When Jak, Daxter, and Axel go back and forth through time, it allows others from _other_ timelines to come into this one. Anyone can come into our timeline."

"Anyone?" Daxter repeated in shock.

"That means Errol." Jak sighed. "Or Kor, or the Baron."

"Or Veger," Louin added.

"Veger isn't dead," Jak corrected.

The room became eerily quiet. Sig clenched his teeth together, and looked over at Avelli whose mouth was slightly open in surprise. Louin stood up and limbed over towards the older woman.

"He's not dead?" Avelli asked, looking at everyone in the room.

"No." Jak turned around to her. "Why?"

"Shit." Avelli turned away from the group. Without saying another word she walked out of the bar with Louin limping after her.

"Now what?" Ashelin rolled her eyes.

Jak walked out after her, leaving Daxter on the bar with Tess. He walked out onto the sidewalk to see Avelli walking down the sidewalk, and Louin limping after her as fast as he could. Then, randomly, Avelli fell to her knees.

"Avelli!" Jak yelled out.

Jak ran over to his mother but Louin reached her first. The orange haired boy fell to his knees near Avelli and wrapped his arms around her, and when Jak finally joined up with the two, he could hear her crying.

"We can't leave!" she whimpered. "We're stuck here in this shit hole dammit! I don't want to be here anymore! I want to leave!"

"We'll get out of here soon." Louin clung tightly to her. "Don't worry, we'll be out soon just relax."

"He's still alive." Avelli placed her head in Louin's chest. "Why couldn't he have died instead of Damas? Why dammit? Why Louin?"

Louin narrowed his eyes. "I don't know Avelli. I'm sorry."

Seeing his mother cry against Louin's chest caused a burning sensation in his eyes. The words coming from his mother's mouth hit him hard and were words he had never heard anyone else here. Just seeing how everything was affecting his mother, things he didn't yet understand were burning behind his eyes.

* * *

Three hours later Jak was still at the Naughty Ottsel, pretending to sleep while Daxter and Axel slept across the table from them. Louin decided that it was best that he take Avelli back to her place in order for her to get everything in order, and promised to tell everything to Jak as soon as he could. Now, though, Jak was secretly listening to the conversation Kleiver, who had come randomly to talk to Avelli, and Sig were having which started to sound a bit hostile.

"You didn't tell her?" Sig whispered to Kleiver. "You live with the damn animal!"

"Ain't my responsibility!" Kleiver moved his right hand, dismissing Sig. "'Sdies she never asked once about him! I thought you told her months ago! After all, you're Damas' spy!"

"But you're her best friend!" Sig whispered harshly.

"Who decided that?" Kleiver laughed a bit.

"You've known her since she was twenty!"

"So? If anyone knows her it's that bloke Jinx." Kleiver moved his hand backwards with his thumb out towards a sleeping Jinx. "They've known each other'a since the age of ten! He should'a told her!"

"Anyway," Sig shook his head, "keep Veger away from Avelli and that will solve everythin'."

Veger again. Jak thought. Why is everyone talking about him? He has something important to do with Avelli but what dammit?

Jak had finally gotten into a deep sleep when the sound of a beep woke him. His eyes fluttered open to see Axel turning the alarm on his watch off and Daxter stretching upwards.

"We leave in fifteen." Axel yawned. "Only Mar knows where we'll end us this time."

"I wish I knew." Jak sighed.

"Get food, and go take a leak while you have the chance." Axel stretched his arms upwards.

"You act like this is some kind of field trip!" Daxter yawned.

"Might as well be." Axel rolled his eyes.

Jak got up, went to the bathroom and arrived to see Axel and Daxter now standing up near Keira. She handed something to Axel, and he hooked it onto his belt.

"There, now we'll be able to track where you are." Keira smiled.

"Thanks." Axel made sure it wouldn't bother him if he sat down. "It's big though, it might be hard to hide or might get in the way if I have to climb up something."

"Drop it whenever or wherever you want." Keira explained. "I'm going to record the information so if anything happens to it I'll still have it."

"Good." Axel turned around. "Don't tell Avelli we're leaving."

"I won't. She's not even here." Jak sighed, and walked up to him and Daxter.

Axel looked down towards his watch. "Five minutes."

"We'll be timing everything back here alright?" Keira said, perking up. "Someone will be waiting for you when you get back alright?"

"Right." Jak nodded.

The group began to talk about things that wouldn't mean a thing to them later on. They were just passing time while Jak wondered where he was going to go, and whom he was going to see. He wanted to see more of Damas, and yet he wanted to see everything about Avelli. He just wanted to know.

"Get ready." Axel grabbed Jak's shoulders once more as Jak grabbed Daxter.

Time transfer in… 

_**Three…**_

_**Two…**_

_**One**_

* * *

A blinding light surrounded the three, causing Keira to look away. The light engulfed the trio and when Jak opened his eyes next he was staring at a white light. He could feel Axel grabbing his shoulder, and Daxter clinging onto his other one when suddenly the light became static.

**Memory Progression Past Input version one:  
**  
"What the hell?" Axel hissed.

The trio stopped moving and stood in front of the static that had taken place of the light in wonder. The static moved, and a black line appeared once, and then quickly faded away. The line came once more, then again and again until a small voice was heard.

"_Wake up."_

Jak froze. It was her voice.

"_Come on! Wake up already!" _

On the static screen the image of the kitten Jak hadn't seen in what felt like years appeared. She looked the same as she always had, with lively eyes looked back at him, and her pink hair hanging over her face gently.

"_Jakie-kun!" _

"Cat?"

Jak looked around. It was surely his voice that had called out her name but his mouth hadn't moved at all. The two looked over at him as he shrugged, and then looked back towards the image in front of them.

"_What's the matter?" She asked as she tilted her head cutely. _

The screen became static once more. Another line quickly appeared with more and another image from Jak's past began to play out in front of him. It was of his father, standing in front of his throne as he always did. 

"I am Damas, leader of Spargus City. I found you three in the hash desert; I and my soldiers took you in." Damas then walked over toward the large chair and took a seat. "But, you cannot stay here long, you must earn the right to stay here. Earn your citizenship, and you may stay."

_Damas?_ Jak thought.

The static returned.

"What the hell is going on here!?" Daxter yelled towards the static.

"She is one of Nekobara's finest warriors. Sent here by the imperial king, to aid with our war against the Metal Heads and in return we would lead them our Eco source to aid them in their own war against those vial creatures." He explained in a calm tone. "She is very important to the king. And for this information to leak would be disaster to us all. If he was to have her return to her country then it would be the end for our war. And Spargus at its first loss."

It was Damas' voice speaking about the kitten Jak had lost. The static didn't change for the memory the sound of the voice just came. Without a minute passing, the next black line appeared and showed Jak in a hover car in the desert with Cat.

"It's been bothering me, and whenever I get a chance to tell you someone gets in my way. But now were alone." He explained in a deep voice, "From the first second I met you…I've had this feeling, this overwhelming feeling, and I've finally come to terms on what that feeling is."

It was Jak's voice once more. He sat and watched as Daxter blinked, not remembering thing for himself.

_Cat blushed slightly as her eyes grew wide. _

"_Cat," he paused, "I mean Neko Yamazaki, I love you." _

_Her blush then became a deeper red color, her eyes wide. She then looked down for a moment. She then looked back up and him with an angry look on his face. She reached over and grabbed his goggles and pulled them back, then let go, letting them snap back in his face. He yipped in pain and grabbed his face. _

"Just take me back home!" She blushed and looked away from the man, trying to hide the blush.

"SO that's what happened!!!" Daxter said as the image in front of them reverted back to static. "You never told me something like that happened!"

"Shut up!" Axel yelled. "Pay attention to what's happening!"

The static disappeared, and the white light appeared behind it. The trio covered their eyes once more as the light swallowed them, and when Jak opened his eyes next, he was standing in Onin's hut. Axel pushed him down behind a box, to hide them from Pecker.

"Onin?" a voice Jak recognized said. "Onin?"

"Come in Damas!" Pecker called out from atop Onin's head.

From where they were hiding, Jak could see a younger looking Damas walk into the hut, with a guard standing outside. Damas was shorter then Jak had seen before, and his face looked younger with hints of small hair growing on his chin.

"Ah Damas!" Pecker said as Onin moved her hands. "We've been expecting you."

"Yes." Damas coughed and stood in front of the elder woman. "Every man from The House of Mar is allowed a question to ask you about their future, I am now here to ask you mine."

"We know," Pecker said; Damas twitched. "What is the question you have for us?"

Damas cleared his throat. "I want to know how I will die."

Onin paused for a moment, and then began to move her hands as a purple light came from her fingertips.

"Onin says that," Pecker began, "you will not die naturally, you will be killed by a member of the La'Cour family."

"Killed," Damas whispered to himself.

"We cannot say exactly how you will die," Pecker continued, "for we do not want the fate chosen for you to alter. All we can give you is that you will be killed by a La'Cour family member and that is all."

Damas nodded his head. "Thank you very much Onin and Pecker."

"Remember," Pecker raised a feather, "you are only to tell your Father this. Anyone else and things could change."

"I understand." Damas nodded once more.

Damas turned away from the old woman and the bird, and walked out of the tent. Jak could hear Damas talk to the guard outside, and then begin to walk away. Axel came out of his hiding and walked over towards Onin.

"So now where do we go?" he asked her.

"Axel!" Daxter yelled, coming out of hiding as well. "I thought we weren't supposed to talk to anyone!"

"Yeah but Onin knows everything already so I doubt we're messing with the timeline." Axel shrugged. "She can tell us where to go."

Onin moved her fingers. "She is saying," Pecker translated, "that you should follow Damas back to his palace and stay there for the next six hours."

"Again?" Axel sighed. "Fine. Come on you two, let's get out of here."

"Hold on!" Pecker protested. "There is something the three of you need to know, the last time you travel through time you will have to take something, or someone with you. So don't forget about it."

"Fine." Axel began to walk towards the door. "Anything else?"

Onin moved her hands. "You're supposed to be going through Damas' and Avelli's lifetime to do certain things, that is your mission."

"Mission?" Jak stepped towards the door. "So when we finish it, everything will go back to normal right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Pecker rolled his eyes as Onin kept moving her hands.

"Okay, come on Dax." Jak picked Daxter up off of the floor and placed him on his shoulder. "Let's head back to the palace."

* * *

The three had sunk into the palace the same way they had before, and had entered through the security room where Axel looked at the security cameras to see that Damas was in the throne room waiting for someone. The three then moved to it and stood in the security box.

"I'm creating an officer ID for you two," Axel said as he worked the computer in the new security box. "That way I don't have to keep sneaking you two in here all of the time. We'll have to update it every time we get back to our time but that's no problem with Semton around."

"Alright." Jak looked out of the box and into the throne room.

It was the room where he had confronted Ashelin years in the future, and where he had spotted the Baron talking to the Metal Head leader along with Errol. Damas was standing around when another man walked into the room.

He was tall; with dirty blond hair placed back the same way Damas would make his hair in the future. His purple eyes looked down at Damas with a slight surprise behind them, and he was wearing an all black outfit with tall boots, and a small cloak trailing behind him. Sitting on his waist was a long sword Jak recognized from the Baron.

"Damas!" the man called, catching everyone's attention but Axel's. "How did the old soothsayer answer you?"

Damas took a deep breath in. "I will die by the hands of a La'Cour."

"You are only to tell your Father this. Anyone else and things could change."

Is this his father? Then…this is my Grandfather. Jak blinked in disbelief.

"A La'Cour?!" his father roared. "Dammit! I don't want you to face such a death. I order death to all La'Cour family!" He ordered towards a fellow guard.

"Father please," Damas sighed, "I face death from them one way or the other, please just let me handle this on my own. My training will intensify, that way I can change my future."

"Do you want the death of La'Cour family members?" the guard asked.

"No." Damas' father shook his head. "I am proud of you Damas, you are taking responsibility for your future. Now I have a meeting to attend, I'll see you at dinner."

"Yes Father." Damas nodded his head.

His father stepped out of the room, and Damas was about to leave when another man walked into the room with his arms crossed. Jak immediately recognized him at Baron Praxis, the man who had caused so many problems for him in the future.

"There you are Praxis," Damas said, a smile crossing his face. "I was wondering where you were. I thought you were going to come with me to Onin's hunt."

"I'm sorry." The Baron shook his head. "I slept in, I was up late last night."

"The Baron." Axel hissed, now looking up. "He's around fourteen right now, which means Damas is as well. Right about now was when he began to come to my father to discuss things. That bastard."

"So," the Baron coughed, "did she answer your question?"

"Yes." Damas turned away. "I'm going to go train, are you going to come?"

"Yeah." The Baron walked over to him. "When's your Father going to adopt me? Do you know yet?"

"No." Damas shook his head. "He spoke to me the other night about it but he didn't say anything other then what he usually says."

"Adopt?" Jak asked out loud.

"Damas' family was going to adopt the Baron?!" Axel and Daxter asked at once.

Axel looked back down at the computer. "That means that the Baron was going to receive the Mar name. He could have been your Uncle."

"EW!" Daxter cringed. "That means Ashelin would have been your cousin!"

"So that's how the Baron destroyed Damas' rule," Axel said, putting everything together. "He was able to work it from the inside out. Interesting.

* * *

R&R please! 


	8. Hidden Within Trust

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli and her family, Axel, Luveni, and Louin.

This might get a bit odd. Write me if you have any questions. Enjoy!

* * *

"There." Axel pushed a large orange button. "Your ID's are being printed right now. Just use them now and when we get back Semton will renew your ID to fit you now when we get back."

Jak looked over towards the computer and saw a piece of thick paper coming out. The machine finished, and Jak took it. He saw two ID's on it, and ripped the paper in half, and gave Daxter the other half.

"Thanks, I'll put it in my pocket." Daxter rolled his eyes.

"Shouldn't you be wearing your pants?" Jak asked, looking at the orange rat. "You look naked."

"I didn't get a chance to put them on before I left." Daxter crossed his arms. "I'll put them back on when we get back. Damn it's drafty."

"Someone else is coming." Axel looked through the one-way mirror.

Jak and Daxter stopped talking and looked through the mirror as well and saw a young woman walking towards the two other men. She called out to Damas, and he and the Baron turned around towards her, and then began to walk towards her, the Baron with more of a smile on his face then Damas.

"Luveni," the Baron said as he walked over towards her.

_Luveni is Ashelin's mother._ Jak remembered.

She was tall; showing where Ashelin had acquired her height, and had the same red hair her future daughter would have only hers was in a high ponytail. Her lime green eyes were focused on the Baron, then Damas and she was wearing a black leather jacket with tight blue pants, and high heeled boots. Her jacket was open, and showed a dark blue shirt underneath.

"I haven't seen you two in a while, how are you?" she asked, hugging the Baron.

"Fine." The Baron hugged her back tightly.

"Damas?" she asked, moving over towards him.

She moved her arms outwards as if she were going to give him a hug but Damas raised his right hand and shook his head. Confused, she pulled back and looked at him, blinking.

"Not right now Luveni." Damas sighed. "I must go and train now, I'll see you at dinner."

"Fine." She looked away from him. "You know sometimes I wonder why my father thinks that we belong together. If you ask me we are totally different." She hissed. "If it were up to me I'd end this engagement!"

"Engagement?!" Jak and Daxter repeated together.

"Luveni," Damas looked towards his left, "forgive me, I am not," he sighed, "in the best of moods at the moment."

She sighed, seeing that he was serious. "I'm sorry." She sighed. "I'll see you at dinner as well."

Damas left the room, and Luveni was beginning to walk away when the Baron grabbed her right hand and pulled her back. She looked at him and he pulled her towards him and forcing her face against his.

"EW!" Daxter covered his eyes with his paws. "They're smooching!!"

"Ssh!" Axel hit the small rat.

Luveni pulled away after a few moments and turned her head towards the right. Jak spotted a heavy blush across her face as the Baron rubbed his face in her neck.

"We're going to get caught," she said. "You're getting bolder and bolder! We're in his Father's quarters!"

"They're blind to everything anyway." The Baron brought his face away from her neck. "We've been doing this for four months now."

"But what happens later?" she asked, looking back towards him. "What happens when he and I _have_ to marry? We're not really anything more then fiancées right now but when we're married I'll have duties!"

"Don't worry." The Baron left her arms. "You don't have to marry him until you turn twenty, we have plenty of time to do something about it."

"Something?" Luveni crossed her arms. "What are you planning Baron Praxis?"

"You'll see soon enough." The Baron laughed. "But for now, go watch Damas train, I've got another duty in another part of the palace."

"Fine." Luveni smiled. "Good bye."

"Bye."

The Baron walked away from Luveni, leaving her to look towards the throne where Damas' Father always sat. She sighed once more, and then walked out of the same door Damas had not moments before.

"So Damas' fiancée was in love with the Baron and mothered Ashelin?" Jak said, trying to put everything together.

"Looks like it." Axel stood up from the computer keyboard. "I don't know if Damas ever found out or not but by doing the math the Baron had Ashelin when he was twenty meaning that Luveni was twenty as well. How Damas couldn't have known is beyond me. I don't think they ever got married because when Damas was twenty his father found out about him and Avelli."

"Ashelin could have ended up being your sister or something!" Daxter said looking disgusted.

"Ew." Jak twitched. "If Damas' father found out when he was twenty, would he have made Damas marry Luveni anyway?"

"I don't know." Axel cupped his chin with his right hand. "Let's move to the room where the Baron has gone."

"How can we tell?" Jak blinked.

Axel looked back towards the computer and pushed a button, making it display the many security cameras around the palace. He found the one tracking the Baron as he walked through the hallways and stepped into another room.

"The servant's dining hall," Axel said as he read underneath the camera information. "Come on there's bound to be a security room in there."

"There's no camera?" Jak asked, walking over to the computer.

"No." Axel shook his head. "I'm not getting a signal."

"Alright. Let's go before something else happens." Jak sighed.

* * *

The three walked through the hallways, passing fellow guards who looked at them strangely but didn't bother to ask them for their ID's. They soon found their way to the room where the Baron had entered. There stood a guard wearing an outfit similar to the KG's of the future.

"ID's?" the guard asked.

"Right here." Axel raised his ID. "These guys are new but they've got their beginners ID's."

Jak held his up, as did Daxter. The guard looked over their ID's carefully, and then stepped to the side, telling them that it was alright for them to enter. Axel grinned, and opened the door, allowing Jak and Daxter entrance.

The servant's dinning hall was a large, under lit room with a long table in the middle of the room. Chairs were lined up next to the table that was covered in a white cloth and was littered with empty plates and glasses. There were more men in the room, wandering around and talking to one another. Jak's eyes scanned the room and spotted the Baron in the corner of the room, speaking to another man.

"Shit." Axel grabbed a nearby helmet and slipped it over his head.

"What?" Jak looked at him.

"That man the Baron is talking to is my father, Jak," Axel answered, moving the mouthpiece a bit. "I don't want him to see me at all."

Jak looked over towards the other man with the same name as him and was surprised. He was short, due to the La'Cour genes, but his hair was a bright blond color. He was slightly heavy with a tight black with white stripes business suit with a pink undershirt. His black shoes reflected the lights back into Jak's eyes, showing him that he was a man who took _very_ good care of himself.

"Are you sure?" Daxter asked, crossing his arms. "His hair ain't green at all!"

"My father always dyed his hair so that he wouldn't be recognized," Axel answered. "That's how he got girlfriends and came up with some of us including me."

"You're not full-blooded La'Cour?" Jak asked.

"No." Axel shook his head. "Let's move in closer to hear what the hell they're talkin' about."

The three moved closer, pretending that they were talking to one another about how Axel couldn't find the rest of his outfit, without mentioning his name of course. They were soon sitting down in the chairs closest to the Baron and other Jak and were able to hear their conversation.

"So are you coming with me this time?" the other Jak asked the Baron.

"No." The Baron shook his head back and forth. "I cannot, I should stay here a bit longer just in case someone thinks something is wrong. I don't want my plan to deploy just yet."

Jak laughed. "Good! At least I'm dealing with a smart man this time! Last time I was dealing with a moron and he ended up sleepin' with the fishes! Just keep your promise of giving me half of the benefits."

"I will, I will." The Baron moved his hand back and forth.

"But getting back to the plan, I think we should launch it once Damas turns twenty."

"Twenty?!" the Baron hissed, taking a step towards Jak. "Why the hell twenty?"

"When he turns twenty _he_ will gain the land and I'd much rather deal with Damas then his father," Jak explained. "Damas will be easy to overthrow! Don't worry about a thing! You'll have the La'Cour backing you up so just keep your shirt on!"

"Fine." The Baron looked away from the other man. "You know you're making me wait six years."

"Yeah, yeah but hey in six years my kids will be older and you'll have more people to work with." Jak shrugged. "Avelli's gonna be nineteen, Marith with be seventeen, Semton will be sixteen, Cricket will be eighteen and Axel with be twenty three! Come on could you ask for a better team?"

"No." The Baron turned back towards Jak and crossed his arms. "Cricket and Axel will be the only ones I need. They're the strongest of the group aren't they?"

"Yes." Jak nodded. "Marith will be the best female fighter by then thanks to her high toleration of Eco and Avelli will come in second place so don't forget about them."

"Right." The Baron scratched his chin. "Everything sounds fine then."

"Alright." Jak grinned. "Just keep under your kind and caring cover and everything will go smoothly. Now if you don't mind I have a meeting with Krew and Mizo."

"Wait," the Baron grabbed Jak's shoulder, "do you promise that the La'Cour's will watch over Luveni?"

Jak blinked. "You don't want her dead with Damas?"

"Shit." Axel looked over towards the Jak sitting at the table and patted his back. "Don't lose it, it could hurt you later."

Daxter looked over towards his Jak and saw him gripping his pant legs tightly. He was clenching his teeth together in order to stop his dark side from emerging and could see his eyes dilating.

He was growing angry quickly. He couldn't stand that two people were standing behind him, talking about another person's life as if it were nothing. They acted like they were some sort of Gods that could take and give life whenever they wanted.

"No." The Baron shook his head back and forth once more. "I want her alive."

"Alrighty." Jak smiled. "She'll be kept alive and Damas will die. No big deal."

"Good." The Baron reached out towards Jak and they shook hands.

"It's always a pleasure doing business with you." Jak said as he drew his hand back. "I hope to see you sometime soon."

"Me too."

Jak turned away from the taller man and stepped out of the emergency exit in the back corner. The Baron stood still for a moment, watching the door where Jak had walked out of, and after a few moments, he moved. Turning around, he walked towards the entrance of the servant's dining hall and stepped out.

"Why does he want to rule Haven?" Jak asked once the Baron had left.

"Who knows." Axel shrugged. "But now we know that he promised my father a cut of everything which is why he's helping him. I can't wait to see when Avelli screws everything up!" He laughed.

"But even though she does the Baron takes over Haven," Jak said in a depressing tone. "Damas is still thrown into the Wastelands."

"But if he wasn't he would have never met you." Axel patted his nephew on the back. "You never would have gotten help from him, and might not have ever met your mother."

"Yeah Jak!" Daxter jumped on the young boy's shoulder. "Cheer up a bit!"

"Now what do we do for the time we have leftover?" Axel sat back down onto his seat.

"I'm hungry!" Daxter hopped onto the table.

"Yeah." Jak reached out towards a small plate of food. "I guess I am too."

"At least we've earned it." Axel reached out and grabbed an apple. "After all, if any other guard had seen what the Baron was doing things would be pretty screwed up right now."

Jak nodded and began to peel an orange he had found. He threw the skin onto the table and looked down towards the naked orange. Smiling, he remembered that things would work out fine and took a bite.

* * *

Present Time:

Avelli sighed and sat down on her green couch. The Precursor Ring was sitting in the middle of her living room and Louin was changing the bandages on his leg. Seeing that he couldn't do it, she reached over towards him and began to do it for him.

"Thank you." Louin watched her wrap the bandages around his leg.

"All you had to do was ask." Avelli smiled.

"Avelli?"

"Hum?"

"Do you think you'll fall in love again?"

Avelli finished wrapping his wound. "No."

"What about Jinx?"

"What about him?"

"He likes you."

"No he doesn't." Avelli moved her hand back and forth and laughed. "We've always been close but it's never been _that_ close."

"What about Kleiver?"

Avelli twitched. "No."

"But he always around you. When I was younger I remember you staying with him for a short time, were you dating?"

"No." Avelli laughed once more. "I was wounded remember? Damas was having trouble so I didn't bother him. Kleiver just took me in until I was done healing. Besides he's too old for me."

"How much older?"

"Thirteen years."

Louin looked away. "I still think that Jinx likes you."

"It's only been about three months since Damas died, I don't want to be with someone else right now." Avelli shook her head and sat back against the couch. "I don't think I ever will be with anyone else. I just don't _want_ to be with anyone else."

"I just want to see you happy again," Louin confessed.

"I _am_ happy. I have my son back and I know what happened to him. I know he turns out happy and fine, and I still have you. I have my family, my friends, and I never have to be in that war again and as soon as I find that stupid piece of paper we can get the hell out of here." Avelli brought her legs up to her chest and held them back with her arms. "I'm just sorry that I couldn't adopt you."

"I'm fine as long as you're fine." Louin leaned against the couch. "I just feel bad for Jak, you can't adopt him."

"I don't need to." Avelli smiled. "It might have been nice for him but I'll always treat him like my son because he _is_ my son. I just wish I could see him as I remember him. I miss him a lot."

A knocking came to the door, breaking the moment between them. Avelli stood up and walked over towards the front door, and opened it. There standing in the doorway was the man she knew as her father.

"Father?" she asked, the smile disappearing from her face.

"Hello Avelli, we have a lot to talk about," he said with a grin crossing his face.

* * *

Ashelin was out patrolling the city streets in the middle of the night. She didn't know why she still walked around watching people since things had gotten much better within the city and she blamed it on being paranoid. Torn never sent her on patrol, she just felt as if it were her duty to do so.

The people of the city walked by her, not acknowledging her at all, and treating her like she was ordinary person. She treated them the same way even though they could have been someone from the past. Remembering that fact, she kept her eye out and found a reason to keep walking forward.

Suddenly she spotted someone walking around, looking all over the place as if she were lost.

_She might be a threat._ Ashelin thought as her walking speed picked up a bit. _If she's from the past we could be in trouble._

Ashelin walked up to the strange woman and placed her hand on her right shoulder. The woman jumped, and began to turn around to face her.

"Can I see some ID?" Ashelin asked.

The woman began to turn around and in that moment Ashelin saw the face she had seen within thousands of picture frames. Her hair was the same as hers only in a high ponytail, and her lime green eyes were now looking back at her with surprise.

Ashelin took her hand away from her shoulder. "Mother…"

* * *

The Past:

"Hey Jak?" Axel began to ask, "You wanna learn a bit more about hand-to-hand combat?"

"Sure." Jak shrugged as he began to eat a piece of some kind of food he had found. "Why?"

"Your Uncle Cricket is gonna be coming to town soon." Axel took a drink from his pitcher of beer. "I thought you might wanna learn something from him. He's great at the kind of stuff."

"Damn this family has a ton of kids!" Daxter took a piece of meat Jak was eating.

"Well there are eleven of us. There are the six boys: Cricket, Semton, Tuner, Revolver, Wicken, and me. Then there are the five girls: Avelli, Brin, Cirana, Marith, and Breeze." Axel counted off on his fingers.

"Weird ass names." Daxter moved back onto Jak's shoulder.

"Yeah well we're weird." Axel shrugged. "All of us have an eco we're good at using except for Marith and I. Wicken is one of the strongest Eco users and is best at dark Eco for example. Semton uses all kinds of Eco but in small amounts, which also means that he can't handle a large amount of one kind of Eco. Brin uses yellow Eco, Avelli uses white, and Cirana uses green, Cricket uses blue as well as Tuner. Revolver and Breeze both use red Eco."

"Damn, that's a lot to remember." Jak blinked, trying to store all of the information in his mind.

"Yeah well you'll most likely never see most of the family so don't worry about memorizing their powers." Axel took a bite out of a sandwich he was eating and swallowed. "You kid, you're amazin'. I don't know how you handle so much eco at once. It must be those extra Mar genes in ya."

"Maybe." Jak sighed. "Maybe it is."

The beeping that had awoken Jak before echoed beside him once more. He looked towards Axel who looked at his watch and pressed a small button on the side.

"Five minutes ladies," he said and then took another bite out of his sandwich. "So hurry up and eat."

Jak tossed his food down onto the table, happy that he was finally going to get back to his original timeline. Daxter relaxed and flopped down on his best friend's shoulder, getting himself ready for the time trip. Axel grabbed another apple and tucked it into his jacket.

Time transfer in…  
Three…  
Two… 

One

* * *

R&R please! 


	9. If I

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Axel, and her family.

Enjoy!

* * *

Jak, Daxter and Axel arrived back in their own timeline and found themselves in the Naughty Ottsel. Once they arrived, they saw Avelli, Kleiver, and Keira at the bar with Tess and her father, and Torn standing in the corner talking to Ashelin.

"We're back!" Daxter walked over to his favorite booth, the one closest to the bar, and sat down. "Damn that was some kind of trip!"

Keira ran over to Axel. "Can I see the time traveler?"

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." Axel reached down to his belt and took off the strange device. "Here." He handed it to her.

"Thank you!" Keira grabbed it and ran over to the bar where she began to study it.

"We have a problem." Avelli turned to Jak. "The people who came through time when you left where Ashelin's mother and my father. They disappeared when you came back but still."

"Right." Jak sighed.

"We'll just have to look for people who look out of place." Torn walked over to the group. "We'll bring them here and keep an eye on them until you get back, we can't have them walking around and risk ruining the timeline."

Ashelin sighed. "This is going to get so complicated."

"Are you alright?" Avelli asked, grabbing Jak's shoulders.

"Yeah." He nodded, somewhat tired.

"Good." She smiled. "Go and get some sleep before you have to leave again."

Jak walked over towards the booth where Daxter was sitting and sat down. Torn walked over towards the same booth and sat down on the opposite side. Tess hopped over to the group and Samos brought them a few drinks.

"Thanks." Jak sighed.

"No problem my boy." Samos smiled. "I think you deserve it."

Jinx walked into the Naughty Ottsel with a cigar in his mouth and a smile behind it. He walked over towards Avelli who was now talking to Kleiver and patted her backside and quickly slipped his hand into her back pocket, and slipped it back out.

Avelli twitched. "I thought I asked you not to do that anymore Jinx."

"Relax sweetheart!" Jinx moved away from her and laughed. "It's nothin' new! I just wanted to say hi without breakin' up your conversation!"

"Too late." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway," she turned back to Kleiver and began to talk to him.

"That's sick!" Daxter twitched. "He's done it more then once!"

"Hey ladies!" Jinx walked over to the group Jak was in and stood beside the table. "How are all of you doin'?"

"I _was_ fine." Jak looked away from him, somewhat angry at the action he had just performed on his mother's backside.

Axel walked over to the group and hit Jinx playfully. "You're gonna get yourself in trouble doin' that shit around here. Go get a room if you wanna do that."

"Maybe I will." Jinx laughed.

"Ick." Daxter shivered. "Quit talking like that!"

"Sorry rat boy but I'm in a good mood today." Jinx moved his cigar out of his mouth and placed it between his index and middle finger. "Anything I feel like sayin' is gonna come right out."

"Why are you in such a good mood?" Torn asked, looking up towards the blond. "I haven't seen you grin this much in ages."

"I've just finished a little somethin' for a certain someone." Jinx grinned.

"Who?" Daxter asked.

"That," Jinx picked up one of Jak's drinks, "is none of your business."

"Someone's got a girlfriend!" Tess said popping up next to Daxter.

"Do you?" Axel looked towards Jinx.

"Maybe." Jinx took a drink from the glass he had taken from Jak.

Axel moved closer towards Jak. "Let me have your ID's and I'll have Semton fix them up alright?"

"Right." Jak handed him his, and Daxter did the same.

"See ya." Axel walked away from the group and out of the bar.

Avelli looked down towards her watch. "I'd better get going, Louin is at home all alone. I'll see you in a few hours alright?"

"Fine by me." Kleiver moved his right hand. "Yeah I see you tomorrow morning."

Avelli looked towards Jak and locked eyes with him. Instead of coming over to him, she smiled at him, waved, and then walked out of the Naughty Ottsel without saying another word.

"Something is going on," Torn whispered to Jak once Jinx walked over towards the bar. "I haven't seen the two of them act like this in a long time."

"Whatever." Jak rubbed his temples. "I'm gonna go and try to get some sleep."

"Night!" Daxter said happily.

Jak stood up, scooted out from the booth, and walked to a door behind the bar, leading to a small room with a cot in the corner. He walked over to it and flopped down onto it. He rolled onto his left side, facing the wall, and sighed.

"_Jakie-kun!" _

_Dammit._ Jak thought, closing his eyes. _This is starting to get stupid._

* * *

Avelli walked outside and reached back into the back pocket Jinx had reached into earlier. She felt a small piece of paper, grabbed it, and took it out. It was just an ordinary piece of lined paper folded over three times so Avelli opened it to see Jinx's handwriting.

_Avelli,_

_Come over to my place at ten fifteen, I got somethin' I wanna show you._

Avelli closed the letter and looked down towards her watch to make sure she had enough time to make it. Nine fifty-five.

_Plenty of time_. Avelli thought to herself.

* * *

Avelli soon found herself standing outside of Jinx's small house, the same small house he had lived in all of his life. She walked over the fallen trashcans and passed the burning ones until she got to his front door. She reached down into her pocket, found a set of keys and searched through them until she found his house key. The key entered the keyhole, turned, opening the door and allowing her to enter his living room.

"Jinx!" she called out, stepping into the mess filled room. "Jinx where are you?"

"In the garage!" he yelled back.

She walked through his living room, stepping over papers and garbage bags that had yet to be taken out. The kitchen stood behind the living room and she walked through it, while trying not to step on the empty beer cans that coated the floor.

_Damn this boy needs to clean._ Avelli thought to herself.

Through a in the kitchen, Avelli walked into the dimly lit garage where Jinx stood looking at a large, covered object in the middle of the room. Avelli walked over towards him and placed her hands on her hips.

"So what is it?" she asked playfully.

"This." Jinx walked over to the blanket covering the object in the middle of the room and tore it off.

Underneath the cloth was a large, two seating, white hover car. The front had a small hood ornament on it Avelli couldn't see very well, and sliver lining on it surrounding the entire car. The interior was lined with red and black upholstery and sliver buttons on and around the dashboard.

"Jinx…" Avelli covered her mouth in shock and walked over to the car. "Sweet Mar, Jinx you fixed it."

"Yeah." Jinx scratched the back of his head. "It took me five years but I finally finished it. I, uh, want you to have it."

"I couldn't take this," Avelli said, still a bit breathless. "You've worked so hard on it."

Jinx walked behind her. "I worked hard on it 'cause I wanted to give it to you before you left."

Avelli turned around to him with the look of surprise on her face. Seeing how she was looking at him, Jinx tuned his head a bit and blushed.

"Ya know 'cause you always said you wanted a car like this and I found this one. I fixed it up the way you said you wanted it from when you were younger so I did it as a going away present. I know there's a slim chance I'll ever see you again in person so I figured this would be the best way for you to 'emember me."

"Jinx," Avelli looked away, "I didn't know that you felt that way, I'm sorry."

"I've been feelin' this way ever since Louin told me you were leaving. Mog and Grim wanna see you off too." Jinx walked over towards her.

"I almost forgot about them." Avelli looked back up at him. "I should have told you I was leaving instead of just taking off like that, I'm sorry."

"I know how you can make it up to me." Jinx reached down into his pocket and pulled out a pair of keys. "How 'bout you take me out for a little spin to make sure it works?"

Avelli smiled. "Alright then. Hurry up and get in."

Jinx ran over to the front of the garage and opened the door, pushing it upwards. Avelli started the car and carefully eased it out of the garage then allowing Jinx to close it back up and jump into the passenger's seat.

"Ready?" she asked looking over towards him.

"Yeah." He leaned back into the chair.

"Put your damn seatbelt on, you know I don't drive with unbuckled gun bearers," she teased, revving the engine.

"Fine, fine." Jinx reached over his shoulder and pulled the seat belt over his chest. "Happy now sweetheart?"

"Perfectly." She grinned.

* * *

"Hey Daxter," Torn looked towards the rat, "did you notice anything strange goin' on with Jak?"

"No." The Ottsel shook his head. "Why?"

"He's just acting a little off the mark." Torn shook his head and took a shot.

"Well a lot has happened to him," Tess said, coming into the conversation. "His father just passed, he lost the girl he likes, he found his mother, and he's being thrown back and forth between timelines. Damn that _is_ a lot."

Axel walked back into the Naughty Ottsel and walked over to Daxter. "Here, Semton fixed your ID's and made them permanent. Give your partner the other one when he wakes up, something's come up so I can't do it."

"What came up?" Torn asked.

"Something not concerning you," Axel answered.

"Hey!" Torn hissed.

Axel turned away from the group and walked away before anyone could say or do anything else. Torn shook his head and turned back to the bar as Daxter sighed and watch the door to the Naughty Ottsel close tightly.

* * *

Avelli and Jinx had been driving around for an hour, driving around people, pissing people off, and laughing the whole time. When things in the car got suddenly quiet, Avelli pulled in the alleyway where the Underground Headquarters used to be. She shut off the engine and sighed.

"Jinx," she turned to him, "I want you to come with Louin and I when we leave."

"Nah." Jinx moved and put his feet on the dashboard. "I have'ta stay here."

"Why?" Avelli moved away from the wheel and completely faced him. "Why can't you come with us?"

"Why don't you just stay here?"

Avelli moved back into her seat and lowered her head. "Because every time I turn around here I see something from my past. Being here I remember how you and I used to hide here all the time before you moved our headquarters down into the sewers."

"What about Spargus? You could take over queen there and help Jak." Jinx looked at Avelli through the corner of his eyes.

"There's too much there." Avelli shook her head. "Besides if people find out that I'm Jak's mother he'll lose the crown."

"Forgot about that." Jinx sighed.

Avelli cracked a quick smile. "You know what tomorrow is?"

"How the hell could I forget?" Jinx leaned his head over the seat. "Damn that was one hell of a day."

"Our wedding day." Avelli leaned back against the seat. "I'm sorry if I ruined that day for you."

"We never would have worked out anythin' as a couple back then anyways." Jinx closed his eyes. "You think we could now?"

It was silent. Avelli moved towards the steering wheel, and placed her head on the top of it while Jinx kept his eyes closed. She leaned in towards the steering wheel, gripping it tightly with her hands when she pressed the horn, causing them to both jump.

"I'm sorry." Avelli laughed a bit.

"We'd better start headin' back. Cricket is gonna be here soon and he wants to talk to you before you leave." Jinx reached back and grabbed his seat belt once more.

"Really?" Avelli blinked. "How long have you known this?"

"A week." Jinx grinned. "He asked me not to tell ya but hey," he shrugged, "I don't care."

Avelli started the car once more, revving it a few times to make sure it would start once more. Jinx grinned and looked around, remembering how he and Avelli always came here to hang out with one another.

"Hey Avelli," he began, "if it were back then, I'd—"

The engine cut off his voice, and Avelli couldn't read his lips because he was looking away from her. Figuring that she would have heard it if she was meant to, she pressed down on the gas once more and zoomed out of the alley and back into traffic.

"Listen to her purr." Jinx grinned.

"Thanks Jinx." Avelli smiled as she rounded around traffic.

A small beeping filled the air as they stopped for traffic. Avelli looked down towards her watch and pushed a small button.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"_Avelli_," it was Axel, "_Metal Heads are roamin' around down here! You gotta get over here!"_

"Metal Heads?" Avelli asked, looking at her watch strangely. "I thought we finished all of those things off! Where are you?"

"_So did I! Sig and I are down in Haven Forest. Hurry up and get down here already_!"

_Click_.

"Damn." Avelli made a sharp u-turn and pressed down on the gas. "Are you coming or do you want me to drop you off?"

"I'm comin'!" Jinx grinned. "'Sides I got another present sittin' in the back for you that might come in handy."

* * *

"Jak! Jak!!"

The hero opened his eyes and turned over to see Torn standing in the doorway, breathing heavily.

"What?" Jak answered tiredly.

"We've spotted Metal Heads down in Haven Forest!" Torn walked into the room and over to the corner. "Hurry up and get ready! Avelli, Axel, Jinx, and Sig are all down there holding them back as well as they can."

"Crap." Jak stood up and stretched his arms over his head.

"Here." Torn tossed Jak a large gun. "Jinx was fixing it up for you but it should work fine. Hurry up and get down there."

Jak tossed the gun over his shoulder and walked out of the room. Blinded by the light coming from the bar lights, he covered his eyes and slowly grew used to them. He walked over to the table where Daxter was sleeping next to Tess.

"Come on Dax." He shook the small Ottsel. "Wake up."

Daxter sat up and yawned. "What is it Jak buddy?"

"We gotta go." Jak picked Daxter up and placed him on his shoulder.

"Where?" Daxter asked, rubbing his eyes.

"To fight some Metal Heads." Jak answered, laughing a bit.

"Metal Heads?!" Daxter repeated, waking Tess. "I thought we got rid of all of the Metal Heads!!"

"So did I." Jak sighed.

The two walked out of the Naughty Ottsel to see that it was still dark outside. Jak found a car sitting outside of the bar and jumped on it. He turned the key, and the car began to run and he drove off towards the forest.

* * *

When the two arrived in the forest, and headed back towards the large tree where Jak had once protected the younger version of Samos. There he saw large Metal Heads he had fought once before and they were firing their dark eco out towards the small group of fighters.

"Avelli!" Jak yelled out as he ran over towards them.

"It's about time boy!" Sig yelled, firing his peacemaker. "What the hell took you so long?"

"Sorry." Jak moved the gun Torn had given him towards a Metal Head when Jinx grabbed the barrel and pulled it backwards.

"It ain't gonna work pretty boy," Jinx said. "I'm not done fixin' up that gun."

"Dammit." Jak tossed it down onto the floor beside him.

"Here." Jinx handed him a different, larger gun. "Somethin' I was savin' for another time but now looks pretty good."

"Right." Jak rolled his eyes.

The whole group began firing at the Metal Heads but they didn't seem to stop coming. No matter how many they killed more and more just kept coming.

"Shit." Avelli moved towards Sig. "How the hell are we going to keep this up? We're gonna run out of ammo soon."

"Maybe if we kill the leader we'll get rid of these babies." Sig fired once more.

"The leader?" Axel asked. "Gonna be hard with all of these wanderin' around here don't ya think?"

"We _have_ to find it," Avelli hissed. "We'll never get out of here if we don't."

"Calm down I'll go look for it." Sig began to move in towards the Metal Heads.

"Hold on!" Avelli ran over to him. "I'm coming with you!"

"Hell no stay where you are." Sig turned away.

"I'm going!" Avelli yelled.

"Quit trying to throw your damn life away!" Sig turned towards her. "Damn I don't know what's goin' through your mind but you'd better figure out what you're doin'! You keep pushing yourself dammit and you're gonna get hurt!"

"Shut the hell up!!" Avelli turned towards him as well. "I'll do whatever the hell I want! Where do you get off—"

"Can we focus a bit?" Jak asked over the sound of gunfire.

"Dammit Sig if you die," Avelli bit her lip, "I—"

A purple Metal Head shot hit Avelli, throwing her backwards, passed Jak, Jinx, and Axel. Sig stood there, watching, and then turned around and began firing once more as if nothing had happened.

"Avelli," Jak whispered.

Her body hit the ground and rolled to a stop at the base of the tree. Blood came from where she had been hit, and poured onto the ground underneath her, changing the color from green to dark red. She wasn't moving.

"Avelli!" Jak yelled.

* * *

R&R please! 


	10. While I'm Still Here

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters. I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel and all of the rest of the La'Cours.

Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy!

* * *

"Avelli!" Jak yelled.

He began to run towards his mother's fallen body but was stopped by Jinx grabbing his shoulder. He turned around and glared towards the other blond.

"We have to protect her body," Jinx said over the gunshots behind him. "Don't worry 'bout anythin'! Axel's gonna take care of her!"

"But—"

"Do what he says!" Daxter said, moving down towards Jak's ear. "Come on Jak!"

Jak took one last look towards Avelli's body, and turned back towards the Metal Heads. He began firing over and over again, trying to forget the image stained into the back of his mind but couldn't. He just kept replaying what had happened over and over again in his head as each Metal Head went down, trying to hit the one that had hit Avelli.

Meanwhile Axel had made it over to Avelli and had managed to get her on her back in order to see her wound. The dark eco flowing out of it had leaked downwards and had made the veins around the wound become black. The skin was red, and was welting quickly. He could see that her breathing was becoming shallower and quicker every passing moment, and that was when he figured it out.

"There are Precursor Metal Heads!" Axel yelled out to the others.

"What?" Sig yelled back. "How the hell could these be Precursor Metal Heads?"

"Avelli's havin' a reaction!" Axel answered.

"Dammit," Jinx hissed. "You gotta get her outta here! She's allergic to this damn crap!"

"Allergic?" Jak looked over towards Jinx, his eyes growing wider.

"Fine!" Axel bent down and picked Avelli up. "I'm getting out of here! Take care I'll be back as soon as I can!"

"Get outta here!!" Sig yelled.

Axel turned away with Avelli, and jumped through the teleporter that had brought them there in the first place. Jak waited until he heard the sound of the teleporter before he began shooting once more.

_Dammit._ Jak thought.

Suddenly a far larger Metal Head came out from the ground. It's two yellow Metal Head gem reflected the early day sky in it, and it's six purple eyes focused down on Jak and Daxter. The skin color was a dark blue color and ripped with scales that flared up and down whenever it took a deep breath inwards. Six arms rose up from behind it, and stretched upwards, showing how small they were.

"Yep that's a Precursor Metal Head alright," Jinx said as he looked up at it.

"How can you tell?" Jak asked.

"Two gems," Sig said, coming back to the other two.

"How the hell are we supposed to beat that!?" Daxter asked, twitching at the sight of the monster.

"We can't now." Sig sighed. "Precursor Metal Heads need a special armor piercin' gun. None of our guns will be able to hit anythin' on that damn creature."

"We'll hafta pull back." Jinx shook his head back and forth.

"What about that thing?" Daxter pointed to the large Metal Head. "Do we just leave it or what?"

"Ya'll get back, I'll fire a Peacemaker round at it and we'll come back later to handle the rest." Sig brought his gun up to prove his point.

"Right." Jinx nodded.

Jinx, Jak, and Daxter ran towards the teleporter Axel had taken not too long ago while Sig covered their backs and fired towards the large Metal Head. Jinx jumped through the blue teleporter first, then Daxter and finally Jak. Sig fired one more Peacemaker shot at the Metal Head, and jumped through the teleporter without ever looking back.

* * *

When the group arrived back in Haven City Jinx saw the car he had given to Avelli was sitting outside, meaning that Axel had taken his own car. Because no one else had brought a decent car, Jinx piled everyone into Avelli's car and sped off towards the racetrack.

"Why are we going this way?" Jak asked over the engine.

"Axel lives down here." Jinx answered as he drove. "If I know him he'll take Avelli down to his place. You wanna come and see her or not?"

"Yeah!" Daxter squeaked. "Besides we gotta be with Axel! We don't know how much time we have left."

"Aw hell I forgot about that," Jak hissed and shook his head. "But Jinx, what were you saying about Avelli being allergic to the dark eco."

"It's a long story Jakie boy." Jinx sighed.

"Those Metal Heads we just saw gotta be comin' from the past," Sig interjected. "They must have found Haven Forest the perfect breeding ground cause of the infestation of Metal Heads you just got rid of. Anyways, they're called Precursor Metal Heads because they were unleashed when your mother's family opened a Precursor tomb. I'll tell ya kid they're a pain in the ass."

"Avelli's allergic to the Dark Eco they shoot out for some reason," Jinx said, taking the conversation over. "Since we got rid of the last one of those years ago we never thought we'd have to worry about it again. I don't think she has anymore of that medicine she was always takin'."

"Crap." Jak rubbed his temples.

Before Jak knew it, they had arrived in front of a large set of townhouses next to the racing track Jak had beaten Errol on. Jinx pulled up in an alley beside the apartment and hopped out of the car.

"Hurry up!" Jinx called out to the others.

Sig got out of the car, as did Jak with Daxter on his shoulders. The three caught up to Jinx who was pounding away at the front door, and tapping his foot as he waited impatiently.

A woman answered the door. She had dark green hair with two large strands on either side of her face and looked as if she were in her late thirties or early forties. Her eyes were a light green color and a small scar could be found under her left eye. She was wearing a smile light blue dress with the edges dotted in what looked like some kind of dark substance.

"Is she here?" Jinx asked with a hint of anxiety behind his voice.

"Yes Jinx she's here," the woman answered sweetly. "Come on in, we've been waiting for you. Is Jak with you?"

"Yeah." He pointed his thumb behind him as Jak and Sig walked up.

"Good." The woman smiled. "Follow me please and close the door once you're all in."

She turned around and walked deeper into the townhouse with Jinx following behind him. Jak looked up at Sig who nodded, telling Jak that it was all right for him to walk into the house. He stepped into the townhouse to be greeted by a flight of stairs.

"Come on," Jinx called.

Next to the stairs was a small door which everyone took that lead into a small living room. Avelli was lying down on a couch on the left side of the room with a green blanket covering her and a small window at the bottom of the couch. Jak ran passed everyone else and ran over to Avelli's side.

"Avelli!" Jak called out.

Avelli blinked and turned her head to his side. "Hey kid. Are you okay?"

For the first time since his father had passed away Jak felt a sharp pain in his chest. Maybe it was because someone who was supposed to take care of him was now lying down with people acting as if she were on her deathbed, or maybe it was because he was scared. He had never had someone very close to him die before until Damas died and he didn't want to lose his mother either. He didn't want to feel that feeling ever again.

"I'm fine, what's wrong with you?" Jak looked up and down her body to try and see the injury but he couldn't find anything because of the blanket.

Axel walked back into the room from the opposite door in the room leading somewhere that looked something like a kitchen. He stood next to Avelli, pulled out her left arm and pushed a needle into her arm.

"This adrenalin is just stopping the eco from going into her body, it's not destroying it," Axel began to explain. "She needs some kind of medicine."

"I gave my medicine to Damas," Avelli whispered as she closed her eyes. "If he doesn't have it, I don't know what will happen."

"I'll go look for it." Jak stood up.

"We're leaving in fifteen minutes." Axel shook his head. "We can go back in time and look for it if we land in the right place."

"Then I'll look for it." Jinx stepped up to Axel. "What does it look like?"

Avelli looked towards Jinx and smiled. "It's the Precursor box you found and gave to me when we were young. You know? That one that we found near the ocean?"

"Yeah I know what you're talkin' about." Jinx turned away from the group and walked out of the door without another word.

Avelli turned back to Jak. "Be careful."

"I'll be fine." Jak sighed and moved towards the couch and took another look at his mother.

The woman who hadn't given her name yet came back into the room and placed a purple cloth on Avelli's forehead. After placing the cloth down, she moved her hand down to Avelli's neck and gently pressed her hand against the side of her neck.

"Her throat swelling has gone down." She sighed. "Thank Mar. As long as we keep putting the adrenalin in her, her vital signs will keep stable."

"Thanks Eiren." Axel sighed as he crossed his arms. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"No problem," she answered with a large smile.

"Ooh who is she?" Daxter teased.

"None of your business." Axel turned away from the Ottsel.

"Come on fuss up!" Daxter continued while Jak sighed.

Suddenly Jak felt Avelli wrap her left hand around his index and middle finger on his left hand. He looked down though the corner of his eyes and saw her holding tightly to his fingers and a smile on her face.

"Sig," Eiren looked towards the tall Wastelander, "do you mind staying here and helping me with Avelli?"

"No." Sig shook his head back and forth. "You might need to take her to the hospital so you'll need someone to carry her."

_Hospital?_ Jak thought as he wiggled his fingers in his mother's hand. _Is she really that bad? She doesn't look that bad at all._

"Thank you." Eiren sighed with relief. "I didn't want to be here all alone if something _does_ happen."

"Will you be alright?" Jak whispered as he looked down towards his mother.

"Fine," she said, clearing her throat. "_You_ be careful. After all, you're the one who can walk and get in trouble…lucky dog."

"We leave in five seconds." Axel rose up his left hand with all five of his fingers out.

"Don't do anything stupid." Avelli closed her eyes.

_**Time transfer in…**_

"Don't worry." Jak shook his head.

_**Three…**_

Jak regretted it, but he gently began to move his fingers away from Avelli's grasp.

_**Two…**_

His fingers were almost totally away from his mother's. He took in a small breath and finally took his fingers away from her, letting her hand fall a bit until she tucked it back underneath her blanket.

Axel walked over to the young boys and grabbed Jak's shoulder.

_**One**_

* * *

The white light engulfed the three of them once more but this time, there were no memories or flashbacks. The light passed them once more, and they arrived in Damas' throne room where Damas was sitting and Kleiver was standing.

"This isn't too long ago," Jak whispered to Axel and Daxter.

"Jak said that he never knew his father," Damas said, stopping any further conversation between the trio.

"So what?" Kleiver shrugged. "Lot's of kids these days don't know they father! Big deal!"

"There's just something about him." Damas moved his hand to his face and covered his eyes. "He just reminds me so much of Mar. It is the way he looks I guess."

"Speakin' of which." Kleiver rubbed his chin. "Avelli was out in the desert the othe'a day. I think she's back in Haven City if you wanna talk to her."

"No." Damas shook his head. "It would be best if I didn't."

"Why not?" Kleiver raised his right eyebrow.

"The last time we spoke things did not go so well." Damas sighed.

"How long ago was that?"

Damas looked up, as if he were adding up the days. "Three weeks ago."

"Ya miss her?"

The Sand King reached over to the end table sitting next to him and grabbed what looked like a Precursor Artifact. It was strange, the more and more Jak looked at what Damas had, the more and more he recognized it and then it hit him.

"That's the artifact that Daxter tripped over!" Jak whispered as he figured things out. "Remember?" He asked, turning to Daxter. "The one that you tripped over and turned you into an Ottsel?"

"Oh yeah!" Daxter pointed towards it. "It was that piece of crap that led to this!" He moved his hands up and down his fuzzy body.

"It can't be." Axel shook his head. "That's the thing Avelli kept her medicine in. How the hell could it be the thing you're talking about?"

Jak blinked. "Maybe we're supposed to take it back."

"Then is this our last trip?" Daxter asked.

"There is something the three of you need to know, the last time you travel through time you will have to take something, or someone with you. So don't forget about it."

"It can't be," Axel said, trying to put everything together. "If we take that back to Avelli, then we have to take it back to the timeline where Daxter tripped over it. If we don't, something bad could happen."

"Fine. We'll snatch the artifact when Damas leaves." Jak took in another deep breath as he looked back towards his father.

He was just sitting there so unaware of what was going to happen to him soon. So many things would happen between now, and the timeline Jak had just come from. So many things that would change his life forever.

"What's in there?" Kleiver asked, pointing to the artifact.

"Avelli is allergic to certain types of Dark Eco," Damas began to explain. "She gave this to me a long time ago when we were seeing each other in case she had a bad reaction. Because Precursor Metal Heads have seemed to disappear she doesn't need it anymore but I'm hanging on to it just in case."

"I'm gonna go see Avelli in Haven City," Kleiver announced, "would you like to come your highness?"

"No," Damas shook his head, "it would be better if I didn't. I wouldn't want another argument to break out. Do check up on Sig for me, I want a full report on his search for Mar."

"Yes your highness." Kleiver bowed. "But if I do hear something about Mar, is it alright for me to tell Avelli and bring her down here?"

"I don't care." Damas moved his right hand back and forth. "If she wants to come here she can, this is her kingdom as well."

"Yes your highness." Kleiver lowered his head and walked towards the elevator in the middle of the room. He stood on the elevator and it went down with Kleiver looking everywhere.

When Damas was finally alone, he reached over to the nightstand beside him, opened the drawer, and pulled out a small piece of paper, similar to the ones Jak had read once his father had died.

"Now it's just a waiting game." Axel crossed his arms. "Dammit we'd better not spend our whole time here waiting for him to leave."

The elevator came up once more to show Louin standing on the platform. Once the elevator stopped moving, he stepped off of it and walked onto the pathway. Before he took another step, he got onto his knees and bowed.

"I have a letter from Avelli she wants me to give you," Louin said, lowering his head. "She says that she does not trust the person who usually delivers them to you and wanted me to do it."

"Does not trust Sig?" Damas asked, blinking. "Did she tell you why?"

Louin stood. "This letter contains something Avelli has found out in the Wastelands. She thought it would be too risky to give to anyone else."

"Alright."

Louin walked up to the sand king and handed him a plain letter. He bowed his head, and stepped away from him, heading back towards the elevator.

"Wait," Damas called, "Louin, thank you."

"Don't thank me, I'm doing what Avelli has asked me to do," Louin answered, not bothering to turn around and face the man. "She is the one I owe everything to."

"I know." Damas stood. "That is why I'm offering you full citizenship into Spargus. If something where ever to happen to Avelli, you will always be welcomed here."

Louin looked towards his right. "If something happens to Avelli, I will go with her. If she dies, I'm going to die as well."

"He's serious!" Daxter said, inching ever so closer towards the talking two. "Is he some kind of psycho or what?"

"Louin," Damas shook his head, "thank you for what you have done, and thank you for watching over Avelli for me. I've done all I can for you."

"I know." Louin nodded. "Thank you."

"I've watched you grow since you were five." Damas looked away from the orange haired young man. "You've become quite a young man and I can only hope to Mar that my son will have the same amount of luck and determination that you have."

Louin sighed. "I don't deserve words like that. Please save them for your son."

Damas smiled. "You are right."

Louin turned around once more and bowed. "Now excuse me, I must return to Haven City before nightfall."

The Sand King watched as Louin walked over to the elevator once more, and it went down. He sighed as soon as he heard it hit the bottom level and looked at the letter that Louin had given him. He was about to open it when something came over his scanner. Not saying another word, he bored the elevator and left the room.

"Finally!" Axel began to run towards the throne.

"Wait up!" Jak called out after him as he ran after him.

The trio made it over towards the throne and Axel grabbed the artifact while Jak looked down towards the half opened letter. He picked it up and noticed a thick piece of paper inside of it. His curiosity got the better of him, and he pulled the paper out of the letter.

The paper was a dark green color with black, bolded writing on it. Opening it all the way up, he could see that it had been taped back together by someone.

**Official Marriage License for the couple Avelli De La'Cour and Damas of The House of Mar. Witnessed by Louin ((Friend)), and Kleiver ((Friend)). Performed by Feron De La'Cour ((Uncle)).**

"A marriage license," Jak said out loud as he read over it. "Their wedding was performed by an uncle."

"Yeah." Axel stuffed the artifact into his pocket. "Boy was Dad pissed off when he found _that_ out. Anyways, let's get the hell out of here before Damas gets back."

_Time transfer in…_

"What?" Axel looked down towards his watch that was going off as if they were going to go back through time. "It's way too early!"

_Three…_

"Great something's wrong!" Daxter covered his eyes.

_Two…_

"Dammit!" Axel grabbed the two other boys.

_One_

_

* * *

_R&R please! 


	11. Quiet Recall

I don't own Jak and Daxter, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel, and the rest of the large La'Cour family members.

Anyways, thanks for all of the reveiws, I didn't really think that people would like this story. Oh, and I've finally figured out an ending so maybe this will finally start to go somewhere.

Enjoy.

* * *

Jak, Daxter, and Axel arrived back at Axel's townhouse holding on to one another. Axel let Jak go once he opened his eyes, and walked over to Avelli's bedside.

"Back so soon?" Avelli asked with a low tone.

"Something's going on." Axel shook his head and held out his hand to Jak. "Give me the artifact."

"You found it?" Avelli asked weakly.

"Yeah." Jak walked forward and gave the artifact to Axel.

Axel took the artifact, and opened the top of it. Inside was a large amount of white, fine powder. Axel moved the blanket down from Avelli, and pulled down her shirt a bit, revealing a large, black wound which was swelling. The veins around the area were black, making Jak think that those veins had died.

"It's better then it was before." Axel sighed.

Better? Jak thought. It looks so bad; I wonder how it was before.

Axel placed his hand in the powder, took out a handful, and began to rub it over Avelli's injury. She winced a bit, and took in a deep breath as the powder touched her and created a burning sensation.

"Damn," she hissed.

"Sorry." Axel sighed.

Eiren walked into the room with Sig behind her.

"Oh you're back." Erien said with surprise. "I thought you would be there for six hours! What happened?"

"I don't know." Axel shook his head. "We just came back. If we come and go at random times this is going to be harder then before."

"Thank you." Avelli smiled. "I know I'll be better soon."

Axel, Eiren, and Sig had taken off to find Jak's aunt Cirana and had kidnapped Daxter in the process, thinking that Avelli and Jak needed some time to themselves. It was now quiet in the small townhouse as Jak stood next to Avelli's side.

"You used to do that when you were younger," Avelli said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You always let me grab your index and middle finger whenever we walked outside, or when you were sleeping." Avelli closed her eyes.

"Oh." Jak blushed for some odd reason. He didn't know why but his cheeks were flaring a bright red color.

"Thank you Jak." Avelli smiled. "I owe you."

"Don't worry." Jak laughed, trying to brush off his blush. "Oh yeah, I found this and I thought that you might want it."

Jak reached down into his pocket and pulled out the marriage license he had found in the past. She looked at it, holding it above her head and laughed a bit.

"I remember this. I found it ripped up in the Wastelands." Avelli sighed. "I put it back together for Damas to have."

"Why?"

"Thought he might like to have the only material object left from our marriage." Avelli smiled and relaxed.

Jak looked at the Precursor Artifact sitting on the floor and picked it up. He tossed it up and down in his hands while Avelli's eyes widened.

"Be careful!" she said suddenly. "It's got a bomb setting on it!"

"Really?" Jak looked at it and remember how it exploded when he had thrown it at a Lurker. "How do I turn it on?"

"Move the top," Avelli pointed to the top half of it, "then apply pressure to the middle, and throw against something. There's a minute delay though."

"You mind if I keep it?"

"No." She shook her head. "Axel moved the powder into a bag for me to carry. What are you going to do with it?"

Jak smiled and looked down at the artifact. "Start something."

"Go ahead." Avelli closed her eyes once more and rested her head against the pillow. "Just don't hurt yourself with it."

"I won't."

It became silent once more. Jak walked over to the small chair on the opposite side of the room and sat down, looking at the artifact in his hands. Avelli moved, rolling onto her injured side and sighed.

"If I'm allergic to Dark Eco, you might be as well. In fact, there's a good chance of it," Avelli began once more. "Those injections over and over again have most likely have made you immune to it but…those first injections must have almost killed you."

Jak looked back up towards his mother and thought about what she had said. The first injections were now nothing but blurs, and the only injection he remembered fully was the fourth one. Before that, things were blurred, memories skipped frequently and the blinks of his eyes seemed to fast-forward time.

"I don't remember," Jak said as he thought about his injections.

"I'm sorry." Avelli sniffled. "If I had taken care of you when you were younger, I might have been able to give you the same antidote I have. Those years in prison wouldn't have been so painful. I'm so sorry."

"Avelli." Jak sighed.

"But maybe the long lost Mar Eco tolerance has finally caught up with you." Avelli rolled back over to face Jak, her eyes a bit watered as if she had been crying.

"Eco tolerance?"

Avelli smiled. "The House of Mar was started by a man named Mar who could control any kind of Eco with his body. He saved the world a few times and began The House of Mar and began a family but slowly his bloodline thinned out, and the Eco tolerance of his grandchildren grew weaker until they could no longer hold eco like your father. Maybe by you having my Eco tolerance abilities as awoken something inside of your genes."

Jak had never thought about any of this. He knew he had been able to hold eco from as far back as he could remember but he didn't know anything about The House of Mar or who Mar was. Could he be _the_ Mar who had yet to go back in time? Or was he just someone named after the famous man?

"But," Avelli shattered Jak's thoughts as she spoke, "that was also the reason you were kidnapped. Maybe things were supposed to happen like that. Anyway, what have you been seeing in the past?"

"Things." Jak laughed a bit. "Ashelin and I aren't related at all are we?"

Avelli let go of a large, loud laugh. She laughed for a few moments, and then blew as if she were relaxing.

"No, not at all. Don't worry, Praxis isn't your step-father either," Avelli finally answered.

"What's so funny?" Jak asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The whole situation." Avelli giggled. "That was another problem in Damas' and I relationship. He was supposed to marry her but she ended up pregnant by Praxis but she said it was another man to prevent Praxis from being thrown out of the palace. Damas' father dissolved the plans between the two but was in the process of being engaged to someone else."

Jak felt a small tugging inside of him. He didn't know if he wanted to laugh at it like his mother was, or if he wanted to be angry that the Baron would do something like that to someone who had been so nice to him, and someone who was going to adopt him into the family. The more he thought about it, the more he figured that even though it was wrong, Damas ended up with Avelli, and without that, he wouldn't be where _he_ was.

"I guess everything turned out alright," Avelli said.

Jak looked away from his mother. "Do you know who killed Krew?"

"Yes." She looked over to him. "Do you know who killed Luveni?"

"Yeah." Jak looked back towards her.

"My first kill for my eighteenth year. How old were you when you killed Krew?"

"Seventeen."

Avelli smiled. "We'll consider that you're eighteen year kill if you want to. That way, you'll be excused of it with the law."

"No." Jak looked away once more. "I'll take it."

"You're a man now." Avelli looked back up towards the ceiling. "You take on your own issues, and you take full responsibly for them. I'm proud of you. You're just like your father."

Jak took another look at his mother and found himself smiling. He had never heard anyone else but Damas say something like that to him and he discovered that he liked it. Hearing Samos say it to Keira had made him want to hear that for himself.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Sig, Axel, Jinx, Daxter, and Eiren walked into the room once more, Sig with a new gun over his shoulder, and Jinx with two guns in his left hand.

"How are you feeling?" Axel asked as he walked over to Avelli.

"Better." She smiled. "Did you find Cirana?"

"Yeah she's coming, she's gotta round up her smaller ones before she comes in." Axel managed a smile now knowing that his sister was better.

"Damn." Daxter jumped back up on Jak's shoulder. "She's got three kids with her and one on the way."

"You know I'm good with kids," Jak said as he looked at his small friend.

"Then you deal with them." He sat down on Jak's shoulder. "I had to put up with them the whole way back! Daxter this and Daxter that sheesh!"

"I guess you are too." Jak laughed.

"Anyway, we finally got our guns." Jinx looked over towards Jak. "We can go back and finish off 'hem Metal Heads before they get worse."

"Special armor piercing guns." Sig looked at Jinx. "Give Jak his upgrade."

"Right, right." Jinx took a gun from his left hand and gave it to Jak. "It'll function normally only it'll arm the bullets with a shield to go straight through the armor!! Just like a hot knife through butter!"

"Great!" Jak looked at the gun and grinned.

The front door opened suddenly, and three small children ran into the room. Each one yelled and screamed, and then surrounded Axel, jumping up and down.

"Uncle Axel!" one yelled.

"Pick me up!" another yelled.

"I'm hungry!!!" the final one whined.

"Sit down!!" a voice Jak had heard once said.

The woman Jak had seen years in the past came into the room, looking older and holding her large stomach out. She stepped in, closed the door and walked over to the couch. Without saying anything to anyone, Cirana sat down on the couch, and rubbed her stomach.

"Sorry, I'm about to burst." Cirana sighed. "So, what's wrong?"

"How about saying hello to your nephew?" Axel asked towards Cirana as the kids underneath him stopped yelling and looked over towards Jak, a man they had never seen before.

"Nephew?" Cirana asked.

"Meet Jak, or as you knew him, Mar." Axel moved his hand towards the blond haired boy.

"You're our cousin!" a small blond girl said.

The blond haired girl had her hair back in a tight ponytail with a strand hanging down in the middle of her face. She had the bright blue eyes Jak had seen on his mother, and she was wearing a pink shirt with baggy blue pants.

The other child, a young boy had green hair that fell around his ears and stopped. His eyes matched his hair but it was the scar across his forehead that caught Jak's eye. He was wearing a simple blue shirt and the same kind of baggy pants that the female was wearing.

The final child was another young boy who walked over to his mother and stood there, looking around as if he didn't know what to do. His hair was a bright shade of blond that almost appeared white, and his eyes were a deep blue color. His clothing looked exactly like the other boy's.

"Daxter!" the girl said happily. "Come down and play again!"

"Fine." Daxter sighed.

"Go play in the playroom." Eiren pointed back into the hallway where everyone had come from. "We have to talk alright?"

The children ran off with Daxter before Jak could do or say anything about it.

Again Jak got a strange feeling in his stomach. Those children who looked up at him strangely were his cousins, another unknown part of his family. He just hoped that they would welcome him as warmly as everyone else had.

"So," Cirana began once more, "what's wrong? You'll all acting strangely."

"We fell into a broken Precursor Ring," Axel said, pointing his thumb to himself, and then Jak. "And we were there for six hours but this time we came back _way_ too early."

"Something must be wrong with the ring," Cirana said as she cupped her chin with her right hand. "Besides the fact that it's broken, something _else_ must be messing around with the transaction but I'd have to have a look at it to figure out what it is."

"Fine it's at my place," Avelli spoke up. "You still haven't said anything to Jak."

"I'm sorry." She pushed her glasses up. "I've just got a lot on my mind right now." She turned to face Jak. "Sorry."

"Whatever." He shrugged.

Cirana looked at Jak a bit more and recognized him. "You were in the Baron's Dark Warrior Program weren't you?"

Jak twitched. "Yeah so?"

"My late husband was in that program," Cirana said, missing the sad tone Jak thought she should have. "In fact _that_ was what killed him."

"What a dumbass." Axel added with a slight laugh.

"Anyway," Cirana coughed, "I'm happy to see that someone survived that program, and I'm even more delighted that it was a part of our family. I couldn't stand it if another one of us left."

"Another?" Jak asked.

"Yes, our Father died a few months ago." Cirana pushed up her glasses once more.

"How's your new man?" Jinx asked, hitting the pregnant woman's arm playfully.

"Fine, he's off working with Freedom League now." Cirana smiled. "He wants to protect Haven City so badly for some reason, I don't know."

"She has a thing for authority," Axel whispered to Jak. "Her last husband was a KG."

"I should be more careful then," Jak whispered back with a slight laugh.

"Moving along," Cirana began, "when can I see the broken ring? The sooner I see it the better it is for everyone."

"We can go now." Avelli sat up.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Jinx asked as he stepped over to her side.

"Fine." Avelli moved her legs over the couch.

"You can't go out and get yourself hurt again." Sig turned away from the group. "Another stunt like that and Damas will come back to haunt me."

Avelli looked up towards Sig, and then looked away. Sig sighed and looked away as well, and over towards the front door.

"By the way," Cirana looked towards Avelli, "where's Louin? I haven't seen him in ages. I miss talking to him."

"He should be at my house." Avelli stood up with the help of Axel and stretched her left arm up into the air. "Sometimes he just takes off and just leaves me a note. I don't know what that boy is been up to lately."

"Come on, let's go." Axel sighed.

* * *

The group piled into two cars, Axel driving one, and Jak driving another. They arrived in Haven City port and stopped in front of Avelli's house. They all stepped out of their cars and walked into Avelli's house where they found a note sitting on the couch.

"Well, well." Avelli sighed. "Looks like Louin has taken off again."

"So this is it." Cirana looked at the Precursor Ring sitting on the living room floor. "This ring is in _very_ bad shape, perhaps if we start to repair it, things will start to go back to normal. Do you have a few mechanics I can borrow?"

"Yeah." Jinx stepped forward. "I can try and put this thing up!"

"Anyone else?" Cirana asked, looking back towards Jak and causing Jinx to twitch.

"I've got a friend who could help." Jak crossed his arms. "I'll talk to her about it."

"Good." Cirana stood up. "Then we can start working on this tomorrow. Until then, Jak, you could transport through time whenever the timeline sees fit. Be careful with this thing, going back and forth could tire your body out."

"I think we can handle it," Daxter said, crossing his arms. "Right Jak?"

"Yeah." Jak grinned.

Suddenly, Jak, Daxter, and Axel began glowing. Axel sighed, knowing that they were about to go through time once more. He calmly walked over to Jak and Daxter, and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"Don't do anything stupid while we're gone," Axel said to the other group.

"I'll watch them," Avelli said as she sat down on her couch along with Cirana.

"That really gives me confidence." Axel rolled his eyes.

**_Time transfer in… _**

**_Three… _**

**_Two… _**

**_One_**

* * *

Kleiver was in his kitchen, cooking when a knocking came to his front door. He sighed, and looked over towards Veger who was sitting on the kitchen counter, reading as he waited for his food.

"Watch the food for me." Kleiver walked away from the stove and over towards the front door. He opened the door to see Louin standing there.

"Hey." Louin walked into the small house.

"You're late." Kleiver closed the door behind the younger man. "What kept ya?"

"Avelli got hurt." Louin turned back to face Kleiver. "Jak's taking care of her so I'm sure everything will be handled."

"So you finally cut the cord 'eh?" Kleiver walked back into the kitchen, and Louin followed.

"No I just came here to talk to Veger." Louin shook his head back and forth. "I heard you know where I can find him."

"He's right there." Kleiver went back to the large pot and the Ottsel Veger looked up towards Louin.

"Louin?" the small rat asked.

"Veger?" Louin twitched. "What the _hell_ happened to you? You look…like Daxter and his girlfriend."

"It's a long story." Veger closed the book he was reading and stood up. "Now, what do you want?"

"Excuse me," Louin let go of a smirk, "I thought you were dead, this wasn't something I was expecting."

"Fine." Veger glared towards Louin.

"Anyway," Louin looked back towards Veger, "I came to talk to you about Avelli."

"What about her?" Veger crossed his arms.

"I want you to sign her release papers." Louin crossed his arms as well. "She and I have plans elsewhere, and we can't leave until you've signed those papers."

"Perhaps." Veger turned away. "Or maybe Avelli and I should meet face-to-face once more, after all, it's been about four years since we've been together."

* * *

R&R please! 


	12. Different View of Me

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Axel, Louin and the rest of the large La'Cour family.

Anyway, review please after you read, thank you! Enjoy!

* * *

The trio of Jak, Daxter, and Axel arrived in another timeline and in a place Jak and Daxter hadn't seen in years.

"Misty Island!?" Daxter yelled as he looked around.

They had arrived standing on the ancient Precursor silo, which contained a pit of Dark Eco. They were right next to the pit of dark eco that had changed Daxter into an Ottsel almost five years ago. Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder and looked into the dark eco that had made him the way he was.

"Wow! Talk about your parallel universes!" Daxter said.

"So what's so great about this place?" Axel asked as he took a look around.

"This was the place where Dax turned into an Ottsel," Jak answered as he laughed and looked around the area. "I wonder if we're here yet?"

"_Jak_!" Daxter's voice yelled, but not coming from the Ottsel.

"We're here." Jak ran over to where he remembered Daxter tripping and brought out the Precursor Artifact Avelli had given to him. "Here we go again."

Jak twisted the top just Avelli had told him not to do and began to run back to where he would be hidden, taking Daxter with him. Axel watched with his arms crossed, not really understand what was going on but figured he would get it later.

"What are we doin' here anyway Jak?" the human Daxter asked as he strolled up the silo with his arms behind his head. "This place gives me the creeps!"

Not paying attention to where he was going, the younger, human, Daxter tripped over the Precursor Artifact just as he had done so many years ago.

"Is that you?" Axel whispered to the orange rat.

"Yup!" Daxter stuck out his furry chest. "Aren't I handsome?"

"That was the last adjective in the back of my head." Axel grinned.

"Hey!"

"Sh!" Jak whispered. "We can't get caught."

"Huh?" Human Daxter picked up the artifact he had tripped over and studied it. "Oh, stupid Precursor junk!" He walked over to the silo of dark eco and looked down into it as the young Jak did so as well.

"Eech! What is that dark ooze? It sure don't look friendly. The sage yaps on about the Precursors who built this place all the time. "Where did they go? Why did they build this crap?" Daxter quoted as he rolled his eyes. "Now, I like Precursor Orbs and Power Cells as much as the next guy, but if you ask me? They must have been real losers."

Jak walked away from Daxter as he spoke about Samos and the Precursors. He sighed and turned back around to face his friend when he threw the Precursor Artifact towards the blond. The moment the artifact touched Jak's hands, it began to glow.

"It's been activated," Axel whispered to his trio. "They've only got a minute to use it before it blows up in their faces."

"Wow!" Human Daxter said as he looked over at the glowing artifact. "How did you get it to do that?"

Jak laughed and shrugged. Daxter was about to say something when an armored Lurker appeared behind Jak and began running over towards them.

"Jak!" Daxter ducked behind Jak. "I think we're in trouble!"

Thinking quickly, Jak looked down at the Precursor Artifact in his hands and threw it towards the armored Lurker, causing the artifact to explode and the Lurker to disappear. The explosion sent Jak flying backwards, and made him hit Daxter and push him into the dark eco.

"Uh!" Daxter rubbed forehead. "Memories! This is like a nightmare!"

The young Jak ran over to the pit of dark eco and waited a few moments until a new, fuzzy Daxter came flying out of the Eco. Jak ran over towards him and stopped when he saw what his best friend now looked like.

"Man that stung!" the newly fuzzy Daxter said as he sat up. "I told ya we shouldn't have come here and you listened!"

Jak continued to stare, somewhat alarming Daxter.

"Whhhhhaaaaaatttttt?" Daxter whined.

Daxter moved his hand and then suddenly noticed it. It wasn't the same hand he had been used to looking at.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!! Okay, okay. I'm fine, I'm fine," Daxter announced with a sigh. He was about to say something else when he looked down at his feet and saw that they were orange and fuzzy as well. "Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Daxter took off down the silo and the young Jak followed him, wondering what had just happened.

"So that's how you became an Ottsel," Axel said as he stepped out onto the silo after a few moments of silence. "I think you look better now then you did back then."

"Hey!" Daxter twitched.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you like that," Jak said as he turned to Daxter. "It's kind of weird now."

"Huh." Daxter crossed his arms.

"_You_ looked strange," Axel said as he walked over to his nephew. "No offence or anything but I guess I've grown used to seeing you like this."

"So," Jak turned to the other two, "what do we do now?"

"Wait." Axel walked away and over to the edge of the silo. "I wish we knew when we were going to leave. I was so busy I didn't get any time to rest before, hell I didn't even put on Keira's time piece of crap thing."

Daxter walked over to Jak and hit his leg. "What's up? You're bein' so quiet!"

"I'm just happy." Jak looked down at his friend and smiled. "I'm happy that things are going to turn out alright because of us."

_Time transfer in… _

_Three… _

_Two… _

_One

* * *

_

The trio arrived in Avelli's living room once more to see that no one was there. Jak was about to walk away when he heard something that caused him to twitch.

_**Time transfer in… **_

_**Three…**_

"So soon?" Jak asked as he became white. "But we just got back!"

_**Two…**_

"This thing is more screwed up then I thought," Axel hissed as he sighed. "Damn, this is getting worse."

**One**

* * *

The next timeline they arrived in, they were back in the security box that looked over Damas' room. Wanting to see his father, Jak ran over to the window and saw that a young Avelli was sitting on the edge of his large bed, and was buttoning her front shirt up. Damas was laying face down on the bed with the blankets only covering his lower half, and exposing his naked back.

The sun was shining small rays into the room and birds were chirping loudly outside, giving Jak the clue that the sun must have just started to come up.

"Did…they…just…?" Daxter asked in horror as he looked.

"I think they did." Axel laughed as he too walked over to the window.

"How old do you think she is?" Jak asked towards his uncle, trying to ignore what Daxter and Axel were hinting at.

Axel squinted his eyes. "About twenty maybe?"

"Are you coming tonight?" Damas asked Avelli, causing the trio to instantly hush.

"Of course," she answered. "It's your birthday celebration after all. I'll have to find something to wear."

"How can I tell who you are?" Damas sat up a bit, propping himself up with his elbows. "It is a masquerade party after all."

Avelli turned to Damas, and crawled on his back, wrapping her legs around his waist. He laughed a bit as she moved her mouth towards his ear.

"I'll be wearing stars over my eyes," she whispered with a grin, "and a full moon over my mouth. What about you?"

"My costume is in my closet if you want to see what it looks like," Damas answered back, resting his head into his pillow.

Avelli stood up and walked over to Damas' closet. She opened the sliding door, trying to be as quiet as she could and finally got the door open. There, inside was a black costume with a long cape hanging down from it. Hooked onto the costume was a black mask that would cover his eyes and only leave his nose and mouth in view.

"It's nice," she said, turning back to him.

"Avelli," Damas said in a suddenly serious tone, "are you honestly going to be there tonight?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Avelli walked back over to the bed. "It's your twentieth birthday."

"When he turns twenty he will gain the land and I'd much rather deal with Damas then his father. Damas will be easy to overthrow! Don't worry about a thing! You'll have the La'Cour backing you up so just keep your shirt on!"

Jak's eyes widened as he remembered. "Damas is going to be over thrown soon," he said to the other two.

"This is going to start to get hard." Axel shook his head back and forth. "No matter what Jak, we can't get too mixed up in this. No matter what happens, don't do _anything_ to stop what's going to happen."

"Fine," Jak hissed through clenched teeth.

"I'd better go," Avelli said as she bent down to Damas. "I'll be at the party, I promise. I love you."

Damas didn't say anything in response, but pressed his lips against hers, kissing her. She giggled a bit, and kissed him back. Moments later she pulled away and ran over to his window.

"I might be a bit late, I've got my own wedding to stall," Avelli said as she opened his window.

"Good luck," Damas said as he rolled back over.

She popped open the window, stepped out, and closed the window. Within a moment, she hopped down the palace, and disappeared from sight.

"Well we have a few options now, follow Avelli, or stay here with Damas?" Axel said, crossing his arms. "What do you say?"

"Avelli," Daxter said, crossing his own arms. "I wanna see what happens at her wedding!"

"Yeah." Jak agreed.

"Fine, we'll follow her back to her place and then come back to the party when she comes back here." Axel began typing on the security computer, and then printed out a paper. "There, now we're going to be working the party tonight."

"Good." Jak took the paper and placed it on top of bored in the corner of the room. "Now lets take off after her."

* * *

The Jak and Daxter followed Axel as he led them down to where he said Avelli would be. As they walked down the streets of Haven, Axel stopped walking and looked up at a large townhouse.

"This is my Father's place," Axel said as he looked up. "There should be people here, let's check in here."

Axel led the two to a black fire escape which he began climbing. Jak followed and they climbed until they reached the third floor where Axel stopped and hid against the wall.

"Wanna take a look to who's in there?" Axel said as he moved his head, aiming towards the window.

Listening to what Axel was saying, Jak moved until he could see inside of the room. There, inside, was Jinx with Mog and Grim, standing in front of a mirror as he adjusted a bowtie around his neck. This was the cleanest Jak had ever seen Jinx, he was wearing a tuxedo, and his hair was slicked back with an extra shine coming from his hair.

"I don't get why I gotta do this," Jinx said as he adjusted his bowtie a bit more. "We ain't even getting married."

"Ssh!" Grim said, raising his index finger up. "We don't wanna get caught!"

"What is she gonna do?" Mog asked, looking towards the other two.

"She's gonna delay it!" Jinx hissed. "Jeez you should start payin' attention!"

"How?"

Jinx stopped. "I don't know."

"She'd better have a good plan." Grim crossed his arms, moving his shoulders a bit because of his tuxedo. "This thing is annoying the hell out of me."

"She'll do somethin'." Jinx stopped moving around and looked at himself in the mirror. "Who knows? She might even change her mind and wanna marry me." Jinx moved his fingers towards the mirror and grinned.

"But I thought she was in love with someone else," Mog said, blinking.

"Shut up Mog." Jinx twitched.

Suddenly Avelli came into the room panting, and closed the door behind herself as the boys in the room turned around to face her.

"Hey there good lookin'!" Jinx said playfully.

"I've delayed it for a few hours," Avelli said through panting. "It's stalled until tonight at nine."

"Nine?" Jinx twitched. "Damn I don't wanna wear this thing anymore then I hafta."

Jinx untied his bowtie, and propped his collar up. Feeling something uncomfortable, he reached down into his right leg, lifted the pant leg, and took out a small handgun which he placed down on the floor beside him.

Avelli twitched. "You were going to bring a gun to our wedding?"

"I've got another'a in my other pant leg! I'm hangin' out with the La'Cours! You never know what the hell is gonna happen!" Jinx grinned. "What time is the party thing?"

"Seven," Avelli answered as she leaned against the wall behind her. "I'm not getting over there until eight, I don't wanna sit through the announcements and crap." Avelli's face changed for some reason, as she looked towards Jinx. "I want—need you to come with me tonight."

"What?!" Jinx and his crew yelled together at once.

"I need a bodyguard in case something goes wrong, please?" Avelli walked over and stood in front of Jinx.

Jinx sighed, and moved closer towards Avelli. He opened his arms and wrapped them around her, surprising her. He squeezed her tightly, and she wrapped her arms back around him, grabbing the back of his tuxedo.

"I'd never let you go at it by yourself," he said sweetly. "I've been hangin' out with you for nine years now, and I ain't gonna let anythin' happen to prevent 'nother nine."

"Jinx." Avelli sniffled as she began to cry.

"I didn't know they were so close," Jak whispered to Daxter. "I've never seen either one of them act this way before."

"Thank God!" Daxter shuttered. "I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

Avelli pulled away from Jinx, causing Jak and Daxter's conversation to stop. Jinx raised his right hand and patted the right side of Avelli's face.

"Now hurry up and go get your face on!" Jinx said playfully once more. "I gotta find somethin' to cover my face."

"Right." Avelli nodded and let her arms fall down to her sides. "I'll see you at seven so we can get the hell outta here."

As Avelli began to walk away, Jinx patted her backside just has he had done when Jak had seen it. Avelli turned back to him, glared but then smiled. She laughed, as if it was nothing, and ran out of the room to get ready. Jinx laughed a bit and turned back around to see Grim and Mog looking at him strangely.

"What'a doin' just sittin' around!?" Jinx yelled. "We gotta find me something to hide my face!"

"I don't blame you for wantin' you hide your face," Grim said with a loud, annoying laugh.

"Why are you hidin' your face?" Mog asked, clueless as ever.

"It's a masquerade party!" Jinx yelled. "Damas ordered that so that Avelli could be there without getting in trouble! Now let's hurry up and move already! I ain't getting any younger here!"

Jak looked away from the arguing group but couldn't but smile knowing that so many years from now they'd be the same. They would be together, and would be as close as ever.

"Come on." Axel ducked underneath the window and began climbing down the fire escape. "Let's get back over to the palace, to make sure things get set up right over there."

"Right." Jak nodded.

* * *

Once they had made it back to the palace and had shown their ID's and got into their uniforms that the KG's armor was modeled after, they walked into the hall where the party was going to be held.

"It's weird bein' on the inside of one of these," Daxter said as he hid inside of Jak's armor.

"Now I see how the other side is," Jak joked; Axel and Daxter laughed.

"Damn," Axel said as he looked around the hall. "This place is huge."

Jak looked around in amazement. This hall was the same hall he had been in before in the future but now it was so different. It was lit with bright lights against the wooden paneling, creating a soft, at home kind of feeling around the entire hall. Signs and large flags with the seal of The House of Mar were hanging down from the ceiling beams, and a large table was sitting in the front of the hallway which was decorated in bright colored cloths and silverware.

"Damn," Jak said in awe as he looked around.

"Hey look, there's Ashelin's mom!" Daxter said as he pointed to the front part of the hall.

There was Luveni, standing with her large, pregnant stomach very apparent that surprised Jak. The Baron appeared next to her, with Damas' father walking up behind the both of them. He looked slight older now, and to Jak, looked more like Damas then he had before.

"Praixs," Damas' father began, "are you going to the party tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss my brother's party for the world," the Baron answered with a smile crossing his face.

"They adopted him?" Jak asked towards his uncle.

"I guess," Axel asked, blinking. He was surprised that the Baron had gotten his way into The House of Mar at all. "How the hell did he do that?"

"Luveni," Damas' father said after a cough, "you will not be attending the party, your father and I have decided that already."

"Yes sir." Luveni looked away from Damas' father.

"Excuse me, I must talk to Damas."

Damas' father turned away from the two and walked down an unseen hallway, leaving Luveni and the Baron alone. Once the Baron saw that the older man was gone, he wrapped his right arm around Luveni and placed his left hand on her stomach.

"How is she?" the Baron asked, rubbing her stomach.

"Just fine." Luveni asked as she rubbed her face next to his. "She'll be out in two weeks."

"I'll wait until after then to unleash my plan," he said in a gentle tone. "I can't have something happening with my daughter in the hospital."

"How old was Luveni when Avelli killed her?" Jak asked looking to Axel.

"Twenty-one," Axel answered as he counted in his head. "Avelli was just about to turn twenty so Ashelin was, what almost a year, I think."

Jak looked away from his uncle, and back at the flags and memorials all around the hall. This was where he should have been, this was what his heritage really was on his father's side. It was so strong, and so rich, Jak wished that he could have at least enjoyed a little bit of it.

_This is my family._ Jak thought. _Where I'm supposed to be, but…I'm happy where I am now._

* * *

R&R please! 


	13. Showing True Colors

I don't own Jak and Daxter, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel, and their large La'Cour family tree.

Wow, I didn't think so many people would like this story. Ten people have it on alert which makes me feel so happy inside. That's the most on any story I've ever gotten and on a story I thought wouldn't do so well. Thank you! Thanks for all the reviews and alerts and everything else! I love it!

:cough: Moving on, let's get this going so people can read. **Warning**- there is a mention of something dirty in here, and some touching so I'm warning everyone in case they don't like it. It's not much, and only a few sentences long but I'm sorry if I've offended anyone. Please read passed it, if you don't like it.

Enjoy.

* * *

Jak, Daxter, and Axel had been hanging around the hall, waiting for Damas' party to finally start and when it finally did, they remained in one part of the hall as the guests arrived. More and more people came in, all with masks covering their faces and dresses and suits that showed how rich the party guests were. The head of The House of Mar spoke, telling how proud he was of Damas and then announced that the party was going to begin.

"It's been an hour," Axel whispered while another speaker got up to the post. "What's taking them so long?"

"I'm starting to worry," Jak said back.

Once the last speaker had finally taken his seat, it was announced that the dancing was starting, and everyone was to have a good time. The music began, and that was when Jak noticed two people coming in through the entrance.

"Is that them?" Jak asked, moving his head in their direction.

Axel narrowed his eyes. "Yeah that's them."

Avelli walked into the room and off to the side with Jinx following behind her. Jak moved closer towards her, and took a good look at her to make sure he could remember the outfit she was wearing, as well as Jinx.

She was wearing a long, blue dressed that sparkled when the lights hit it. The sleeves were missing, and she had a thin, light blue scarf draped around her shoulders. Covering her face was a blue mask that had two white crescent moons over her eyes, and a full moon over her mouth, all which drew attention away from her eyes so that she wouldn't be discovered. Just to be safe, the mask was attached to dark blue strings that covered her hair, and kept the outside of it hidden.

Jinx was wearing the tuxedo he had been before, only now he had a large white mask covering his eyes and his cheeks but revealed his nose and mouth.

"Go find Damas," Jinx whispered to Avelli. "I'm headin' over to the food. I haven't eaten anything all day thanks to you."

"I'm sorry," Avelli whispered back. "Thanks again for coming."

"No problem."

Jak followed them over to the food table where Jinx picked out the foods he wanted, and Avelli looked around the hall for Damas. Jak moved his hand, telling Axel to come over towards him and while he was, Damas walked over to Avelli and grabbed her hand.

"So you did come," Damas said with a smile on his face. "I was worried you wouldn't show."

"Why wouldn't I?" Avelli asked with a smile. "It wasn't _too_ obvious who I really am is it?"

"No." Damas pulled her closer to him. "Come, I have something I want to discuss with you."

"Oh I wonder if it's something juicy!" Daxter said into Jak's ear so no one else would be able to hear it. "Come on, let's get closer."

Jak followed as Damas pulled Avelli onto the dance floor, and picked up her right hand with his. He moved their combined hands up near his face as his left hand wrapped around her waist, and hers around his to his back. Slowly they began moving with one another until they mixed in with the crowd as they danced.

"How did you get out of your wedding?" Damas asked, looking into Avelli's eyes.

"Told them I was feeling bad," she answered with a smile. "It's supposed to start in an hour but I'm not showing up."

"Won't they worry?"

"I don't care." She shrugged. "I'll think of something to tell them later, right now, I want to be right here."

Damas smiled as she rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes. This was something he had wanted since the first day they had met and now he was finally living it.

Axel moved over towards the table in the front of the hall to find Praxis sitting next to Damas' father. Wanting to know what they were talking about, Axel moved closer towards the two.

"Look how happy Damas is," his father said as he watched his son dance with a young girl. "Do you know who that girl is?"

"Maybe." Praxis squinted as he looked at the young girl.

"Perhaps he'll propose to her." Damas' father sighed. "He needs a wife soon, and ever since Luveni ran off and got herself pregnant, I haven't been able to find a new woman for him."

"Maybe she will be the one." Praxis stood up. "Excuse me, I think I want to find out just who that woman is."

"Good luck."

The Baron stood up and walked over to where Damas and Avelli were dancing, and as the music slowed and the next song started, he broke in between the two. Damas looked towers the Baron who wore a mask over his face, mostly over his right side, and his normal outfit and hissed a bit. Wanting to know what was going to happen, Jak moved closer towards them.

"Can I help you?" Damas asked towards his recently adopted brother.

"I was just wondering if I could have a dance with your lady," the Baron said, bowing.

"Sure," Avelli said as she pulled away from Damas.

"Avelli!" Damas hissed.

"Don't worry!" She laughed. "I'm not gonna run away with him! I'll be back right after this song."

Damas nodded. "Remember I have something to ask you."

"I remember," Avelli said as she walked over to the Baron. "Come on."

Damas moved away from the two, and walked over to his father were Axel stood. Jak moved close to the Baron to see what he had to say as the music began once more only now in a different rhythm. Avelli moved her hands up with the Baron's, just as she had done with Damas, and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So what is it?" Avelli asked, looking up at the Baron. "You act like there's something you want to talk about."

"Avelli," the Baron began, "I'm surprised you made it so easy for me to recognize you."

Her eyes widened, and she looked at him straight in the eyes and narrowed her eyes towards him.

"Don't tell anyone else," Avelli hissed. "I don't want to ruin this night at all."

"Aren't you supposed to be marrying someone tonight?"

Avelli took a slight jolt backwards. "How the hell do you know that?"

"I'm _very_ close to your family," the Baron answered with a small grin. "How are you going to get away with this? What is your father going to think now?"

"I don't care," she hissed. "Why the _hell_ are you here then? You have no right to be here!"

The Baron gripped Avelli's hand in his, causing her to wince. "I've been adopted into this world, unlike you. Remember, I didn't have to sneak into here with a mask over my face. What are you doing here?" He asked with a harsh tone behind his voice.

"None of your business," Avelli said, her voice now with a harsh tone behind it. "I'm here for Damas."

"Tell me," the Baron closed his eyes, "how did scum like you meet someone like him? Is he your eighteen year killing? Are you going to kill him tonight?"

Avelli pushed herself away from the Baron and began to walk away when he grabbed right her arm and pulled her back. She moved to get away but found that the Baron was holding onto her too tightly.

"Jak, we should do something!" Daxter said.

"I want to Dax," Jak hissed. "But I can't mess with the timeline."

"Don't mess around with something you can't handle," the Baron hissed towards Avelli.

"I can handle it." Avelli pulled her arm away finally and glared towards the taller man. "I would just watch what you're doing, my family won't take your side."

"We'll see."

Avelli walked away from the Baron and over to the table were Axel and Damas stood. There, Axel moved in to hear what they were going to say. Avelli grabbed Damas' arm, taking his attention away from his father.

"If we're going to talk, we have to do it now," Avelli said, squeezing his arm tightly. "I have to leave earlier then expected."

"Alright." Damas broke away from his father and took Avelli into his room. On the walk there, Avelli looked towards Jinx who looked back at her and nodded.

Axel dashed over towards Jak. "Come on, let's hurry up and get into the security room!"

"Where?"

"His bedroom," Axel answered as he began to run away.

* * *

Axel, Jak, and Daxter arrived in Damas' room security room, panting from the dash. Jak moved closer towards the window, and kept his eyes on the door, waiting for Damas and Avelli to come into the room. The bedroom's front door opened, and Damas and Avelli slipped in, Damas closing the door behind the both of them.

"Finally," Axel sighed through panting. "Damn just on time."

"What is it?" Damas asked as he walked back over to Avelli.

"Praxis knows," Avelli hissed as she turned away. "He knows everything dammit! How the hell could he have found out?"

Damas looked away. "I don't know."

"Shit!" Avelli yelled as she began to pace back and forth. "Dammit I don't want to ruin your chances at the crown! You deserve Haven City more then anyone else and I don't want you to lose that!"

"Avelli," Damas rested his right hand on her shoulder, "there's something I want to ask you."

"What?" She turned around.

There was a look in her eyes of worry and anger. Her eyes weren't looking Damas', telling him that she was thinking of other things, things that had been bothering her for a long time. He squeezed her shoulder, causing her to look up into his eyes and a smile to cross his face.

"Avelli De La'Cour," Damas began, "will you marry me?"

"_What_?" Avelli blinked as her face became blank.

Damas reached down into his outfit and pulled out a small, black box. He brought it up to Avelli, and opened it, allowing her to see the ring waiting for her inside. It was a blue stone, carved into the seal of The House of Mar that made her hands to fly up to cover her open mouth.

"It's my family stone," Damas said gently. "I want you to marry me, and take my family name so you no longer have to hide."

"Damas…," Avelli said as tears formed underneath her eyes. "Yes!" She jumped on him, wrapping her arms and legs around him. "Yes! Yes! YES!"

Jak felt himself smile and blush. He couldn't understand why, he just found himself with a red, smiling face. His parents just seemed so happy together, and inside he felt as if they did belong together even though he knew that time would prove otherwise.

Avelli pulled away. "I've got an uncle who's a Precursor Monk who can marry us!" she said with excitement in her voice. "Cirana can stitch me a dress! And we can get married in Haven Forest and—"

Damas placed his index finger over her mouth. "We will figure everything out in time, but now," he moved his face next to hers, "I want to be with you."

"Damas!" Avelli laughed. "We were together this morning!"

Ignoring what she had just said, Damas pressed his lips against Avelli's: she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him in deeper.

"Ew!" Daxter twitched.

Avelli grinned as they pulled away for a moment, and then pressed her lips against his a bit more forcefully. Getting underneath Damas' skin in a way he liked, he moved his hands up and down her body until he found his hand lingering around her chest. She groaned in response, and held tighter to him.

"Shit!" Axel hissed as he looked at the computer underneath him. "His father is coming with the Baron!"

"Let's stall them!" Jak said as he began to run out of the room. Axel grabbed Jak's arm before he could get any further, and pulled him back.

"We can't." Axel shook his head. "We can't ruin this."

"Dammit." Jak pulled away, anger growing inside of him very minute that passed. Wanting to make sure everything turned out like it was supposed to, Jak looked back towards the window, gripping his fists together.

Going back to watching, Jak could see Damas' hand moving over Avelli's chest, and she moved her leg around his waist. Damas slipped his mask off, then Avelli's, and began working on her dress. The two were so involved in what they were doing; they failed to notice the door opening up.

"Damas!!" his father roared. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?"

"Jinx is coming," Axel whispered as he looked at the cameras.

Damas and Avelli pulled away from one another, showing Damas' father who she really was. As his eyes noticed her features, he grabbed the sword off of his hips, and pointed it out towards her.

"A La'Cour!?" he yelled. "Guards! Make sure she doesn't get away from the palace."

"Father!" Damas yelled back.

"Don't talk back!" his father ordered. "I thought you were old enough to handle this but now you've proven otherwise! Get away from that woman before she kills you!!"

"She'll do no such thing!" Damas yelled as he moved in front of Avelli.

Jinx ran into the room passed all of the guards, and rolled over in front of Damas with two handguns in his hands. He stood up, and pointed the guns out towards Damas' father.

"Jinx." Avelli moved forward only to be held back by Damas.

"Now we don't want any problems do we?" Jinx asked with a grin on his face. "Just let us outta here without any big thing!"

_Time transfer in…_

"No!" Jak slammed his fist down onto the computer. "We can't go now!!"

_Three… _

_Two… _

_One_

* * *

Jak and his trio arrived in Avelli's living room once more and waited a few moments to see if they would be thrown through time once more. To their happiness and relief, they remained where they were.

"Finally." Axel flopped down onto Avelli's couch. "Maybe now we can get a freakin' break."

"I wanna know what happened!" Daxter whined as he stomped his paw down. "Someone tell me what happened!"

"Jinx led Avelli back home." Axel shrugged. "From there…I don't really remember what happened. Ask her."

"I wonder where she is." Jak looked around the room.

Suddenly the trio heard someone walking down Avelli's hallway. They turned and looked to see Jinx walking towards them with a cigar in his mouth. When he spotted Jak, he took the cigar out of his mouth and smiled.

"Hey there Jakie boy!" he said happily. "What'cha doin' here?"

"I think we should be askin' you _that_ question!" Daxter said, crossing his arms.

"I came here to check up on Avelli, no big deal." Jinx shrugged. "Why don't you go back and take a look at her? She's doin' great!"

Jak walked into the hallway, passing Jinx and into the backroom, which led to two bedrooms, one with the door open, and the other closed. Looking into the open one, he found Avelli underneath a pile of green blankets.

"Hey." Jak grinned as he leaned against the doorway.

"Hey." Avelli sat up and smiled. "You're back."

"Yeah." Jak walked into the room and sat on the bed. "Are you feeling alright? I didn't think you'd be here in bed."

"Jinx won't let me leave." Avelli giggled a bit. "He wants be to stay in bed for a bit longer."

Jak blinked. "You're really close to him."

"Well we've known each other since we were ten so it's been about thirty years. The only other person I've known just as long is Kleiver and I've known him for twenty years." Avelli sighed as she stretched her arms upwards. "He was the one to give me my first kiss too."

Jak scrunched up his nose as he thought of the idea and Daxter turned away, shaking his head to try and get the image out of his head. Avelli saw the way they were reacting and began laughing once more.

"I'd better get up through," Avelli said as she threw her legs over the side of the bed. "I have to meet up with Kleiver soon, he says that he has something he wants to show me."

"Where's Louin?" Daxter asked, looking around. "I haven't seen old dark and gloomy around here for a while now."

"He's with Kleiver." Avelli stood up. "Don't know why but he said that he had to talk to him about something."

The sound of footsteps coming down the hallway caught their attention, causing them to look towards the doorway where Jinx soon appeared.

"Hey Avelli!" Jinx said with excitement behind his voice. "Cricket is back in town! He says he'll be down at the port's gun range waitin' for ya."

"Great." Avelli rolled her eyes.

"Ah but that's not the best news!" Jinx grinned. "He brought Wicken with him!"

"Good, at least he brought someone good." Avelli looked back towards Jak. "You wanna meet the uncle closest to your own age?"

"Uh sure." Jak shrugged, moving Daxter.

* * *

The group of Jak, Daxter, Avelli, Jinx, and Axel was now walking down to the port where Jinx had said Cricket and Wicker were. Axel broke away from the group once they had reached the Naughty Ottsel, saying that he wanted to help Sig get rid of the Metal Heads that had returned. Once he had left, the group walked in silence to the gun range where Avelli stopped walking and sighed.

"I'll introduce you to Cricket and then head over to see Kleiver," Avelli said, looking towards the other three.

"Actually," Jinx grinned, "I need you to come with me somewheres. You comin'?"

"Sure. It's better then talking to Kleiver about Metal Head hunting." Avelli walked over to Jinx and stood beside him. "Anyway, come on Jak, Cricket wants to talk to you about something."

"I'll wait out here for ya," Jinx said, taking a puff off of his cigar once more.

Avelli motioned for Jak to follow her, as she walked up to the door of the gun range. They waited for the door to open, and as soon as it slid open, Avelli walked into to the sounds of shoes hitting the floor over and over again.

"Avelli!" an excited voice said. "I didn't think you'd show up!!"

Jak stepped into the room and saw two new men. One of them was sitting in the corner of the room, watching the other one, and the strangest looking one was standing in the middle of the room with two large boots on his feet.

The young man in the corner had black hair that was cut short and a long ponytail in the back. He had blue eyes, showing his La'Cour genes and was wearing a black trench coat similar to Louin's. His legs were tucked up into his chest, and his arms were buried behind his legs, making him look very uneasy.

The other, the man standing in the middle of the room had strange white hair Jak had never seen before. It hovered just above his shoulders, and was very thin looking. His blue eyes lit up as he spotted Jak, causing him to look back at the man strangely. He was shirtless, with a pair of black pants to cover his lower half but the strangest thing on the man were two large, sliver boots, and a pair of brown gloves on his hands with blue highlights running on them.

"Hey!" the white haired man said. "Welcome to the base!"

"Jak," Avelli moved her hand towards the white haired man, "this is your uncle Cricket Sixen La'Cour." She then moved to the black haired boy. "And this is your youngest uncle, Wicken Kin La'Cour."

* * *

R&R please! 


	14. Lost Intensions

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of the characters, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel, and the large family tree of La'Cour family. Damn they're big.

Hahaha, thanks for the reviews! I love reading them! Anyways, the story just keeps going so enjoy!

* * *

"Jak 'eh?" the white haired man, Cricket, said as he walked over to Jak. As he walked, his heavy boots clanked against the floor causing a loud bang noise. "I've heard a _lot _'bout you!"

"Cricket used to work for Krew," Avelli whispered to Jak. "Thanks to Jinx."

"Thanks to you I got out of that business!" Cricket grinned a bright, wonderful smile Jak had never seen before. How someone could grin so widely and with so much enthusiasm was beyond him.

"After all, you're the one that knocked off my boss!" Cricket said as he moved his hand out for a shake. "Thanks!"

"Uh…" Jak moved his hand up to shake his uncle's but stopped as his eyes spotted the odd looking glove. Wondering what Jak was looking at, Cricket looked down as well, and then pulled his hand back, laughing.

"Oh yeah! Forgot I had it on!"

Cricket slipped the gloves off of both of his hands and allowed them to hit the floor, causing it to crack. Jak jumped a bit from the loud noise it made, while Daxter gulped, surprised that Cricket could wear something so heavy.

"There we go!" Cricket moved his hand back out towards Jak. "How 'bout now?"

Jak moved his hand back outwards and shook hands with his uncle. He could feel that his hand was the hand of a worker, rough and with blisters all over. Cricket's handshake wasn't rough, telling Jak that Cricket was an even-tempered, and perhaps mild mannered man. But what would a man like him be doing working for someone like Krew?

Cricket soon took his hand back. "That over there is Wicken. Sorry he's not in the best of moods right now, he didn't get much sleep last night."

"And I thought Louin was dark and gloomy!" Daxter said as he studied Wicken's look. "Sheesh! I thought the Goth look went out with those Precursor Monks!"

Avelli coughed. "Cricket, you know who Jak really is right?"

Cricket shook his head back and forth quickly. Hearing this, Wicken stood up and walked over to the group, showing that he was about the same height as Jak.

"He's my son," Avelli said, exhaling heavily. "It's a long story but…he's the result of Damas and I."

"Wow." Cricket placed his hands on his hips. "Someone's gonna have to tell me this story later but welcome to the family kid."

"His facial structure is similar to Damas'," Wicken said, talking in a surprisingly deep voice. "I thought something was up when he came in."

"I've got to get going," Avelli said, shattering the conversation. "Jinx wants to meet me somewhere so I'll leave you guys alone."

"Jinx!" Cricket laughed in a warm way that Jak rarely heard. Putting together his laugh, and the way he smiled just created such a warm and caring atmosphere that Jak didn't know anything of. It was strange.

Cricket moved his right hand up and down. "Don't let him get down your pants!"

"Don't talk like that," Wicken hissed, narrowing his eyes towards his brother. "We don't want her going with Jinx, she needs to be with Kleiver."

"Ew!" Daxter yelled as he covered his mouth in disgust.

"Whatever." Avelli blew upwards. "I'm happy you two are deciding something like that _for_ me."

"It was just a joke," Cricket said moving both of his hands and shoulders. "I know how you are when it comes to those two."

"I'm leaving." Avelli turned her back to the group, taking Jak by surprise.

"Come by the restaurant and we can catch up!" Cricket yelled even though Avelli wasn't too far ahead of him.

"Fine I'll come by tomorrow," Avelli answered as the door opened and she stepped out.

Once Avelli had finally left, Cricket stretched his arms upwards and yawned with his large mouth and then relaxed. Wicken rolled his eyes and walked over to the wall where he leaned against it with his right leg up so that he was only standing on his left.

"Okay Jak!" Cricket said. "I'll give you the full introduction! I channel blue eco, run a restaurant, and I'm workin' on clothing to use my eco skills, you wanna try them out?"

"Sure." Jak grinned.

Cricket bent over and picked up the gloves he had dropped onto the floor. He motioned for Jak to hold his hands out, which he did. Cricket then slipped the gloves onto Jak's hands, allowing Jak to feel just how heavy they truly were. Trying his best to ignore it, Jak moved his fingers to get used to the thick leather and what felt like metal in his palms.

"See the Eco flowing through it?" Cricket moved Jak's right hand to the side, allowing him to see a thin blue line running up the side. "That's the Eco moving through the glove. In the middle are the vents that allow you to push it through your body and into the glove where it can be used in different ways."

"They look fancy but how do they work?" Daxter asked as he looked at the gloves.

Cricket grinned. "Lemme show you."

The white haired man took back his gloves and slipped them onto his fingers. He walked over towards a green locker sitting in the corner of the room, and pressed his open palm against it. He closed his eyes, and a blue light surrounded his hand, and soon, formed an outline of the locker.

"There," Cricket whispered.

The locker suddenly bent over, and the front door of it swung open violently, causing Cricket to jump back to avoid being hit. The door smacked against the wall next to Jak, and hit the ground, looking as if it had been punched over and over again.

"Didn't see me punch it did ya?" Cricket grinned once more. "Using blue eco allows me to quicken my punches so much that you can't see 'em."

"So when do I get a pair?" Daxter asked in awe.

"As soon as I get rid of some bugs." Cricket slipped the gloves off and bent down to his boots where he flipped a small switch. "Now these are my babies! I can kick so fast that you can't see my legs but that's not the best part!"

Cricket quickly did a handstand, making it look easy, and suddenly his boots stuck him to the ceiling. With his hair hanging down from his head, he looked down with another grin crossing his face.

"I can walk up on the ceiling 'cause of the concentrated Eco," he explained. "A few more tries and I'll be able to be up here longer then fifteen minutes."

"Wow," Jak said, a small smile crossing his face as well. "All of this with blue eco?"

Cricket hopped down from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor. "Yup!"

"That test was better then last time," Wicken said, pushing himself off of the wall with his right leg. "Maybe these things will work."

"Aren't you the ray of confidence," Daxter said sarcastically.

"Jak, you can carry any kind of Eco right?" Wicken said, ignoring Daxter's comment.

"Yeah." Jak crossed his arms.

"That's great!" Cricket stepped out of his large boots, showing his bright white socks. "How the hell you can do that in a family like ours is amazing. We can only channel one type."

"Well if you spit in pond water enough it'll be drinkable." Wicken shrugged his shoulders; Jak and Daxter twitched.

"Aw come on Wicken!" Cricket hit the black haired man on the back playfully. "This is your nephew! Lighten up a bit!"

"Sorry." Wicken rolled his eyes. "I'm just in a bad mood because it's going to rain tomorrow."

"How do you know that?" Daxter asked, crossing his arms. "Got a weather detector under there?"

Wicken sighed and moved his eyes to the side. "Because of the Dark Eco I channel, I'm sensitive to the things around me. My hearing is heightened, as well as the rest of my senses. I can feel that the wind outside has moisture in it, so it's going to rain soon."

"Huh," Daxter looked towards Jak, "how come you can't do that?"

"Well I only channel Dark Eco so I know how to control it and use it. There are issues, though." Wicken shook his head.

"Yeah like tomorrow you're gonna be freezing your ass off." Cricket laughed once more.

The front door opened, catching everyone's attention. Louin walked into the room with an umbrella over his head, and as he stepped in, he closed it and looked around the room.

"Where's Avelli?" Louin asked, placing the umbrella down.

"She took off somewhere with Jinx," Jak said, turning towards him.

"Great." Louin sighed and lowered his head. "If you see her again, tell her to head over to the Naughty Ottsel, there's someone to see her."

"Who?" Daxter asked naturally.

Louin bit his lower lip, as if it were going to hurt him to say the name. "Veger," he finally said, causing the room to go quiet.

"Uh." Cricket moved his hand behind his head as Wicken looked away. "That's not good. This isn't going to be pretty."

"What is everyone hiding?" Jak asked, finally reaching his boiling point. "What does Veger have to do with Avelli?"

"Kid," Cricket sighed, "you really don't wanna know."

"I _really_ wanna know," Jak answered back with a glare behind his eyes.

"Jak, I just don't think—"

"Come with me then," Louin said, interrupting Cricket. "If you really want to know Jak, then you'll come with me."

"Fine." Jak looked back towards Louin.

"Hey," Cricket stepped over to Jak and placed his hand on his right shoulder, "I wanna talk to you some more, why don't you stop by my restaurant as soon as you can?"

"Will we get free food?" Daxter asked with a hungry look in his eyes.

"Sure." Cricket smiled. "All the free food you could want."

"Yeah." Jak nodded without looking back towards his uncle. "Where is it?"

Wicken walked over to him and handed him a white business card. Jak didn't bother to look at the card and simply slipped it into a pocket on his right side. Wicken then stepped away, and looked back towards Cricket who, for once, didn't have a smile on his face.

"Come on," Louin turned back towards the door, "let's get out of here."

* * *

As Louin, Jak and Daxter walked down the port towards the Naughty Ottsel, they spotted Avelli and Jinx ahead. Jak was about to call out to her and ask her about the situation at hand but Louin grabbed him and hid the three of them behind a wall.

"Don't say anything," Louin whispered towards the other two.

"Why not?" Daxter asked, causing Louin to twitch.

"Just be _quiet_," Louin hissed behind a whisper.

Jinx and Avelli were laughing together as they walked down towards the Naughty Ottsel and were walking too far away from Jak when Jinx stopped walking. Jak could see Avelli stop walking as well once she noticed that the other man had stopped. Jinx moved his hand backwards, and the two walked back a bit, closer towards where Jak and the others were.

"What's wrong?" Avelli asked innocently. "You asked me to talk to you but you haven't said anything yet."

"Avelli." Jinx sighed heavily.

Jinx stepped forward and pressed Avelli against the wall. He moved his left hand next to her head, and looked her straight in the eye, causing her to look at him strangely.

"I need…to talk to you," he said, forcing the words out of his mouth.

"I know that."

Jinx moved his right arm beside Avelli's head, and hung his head for a moment. Taking in a deep breath, he lifted his head once more, and moved his face towards Avelli's, taking her by surprise once more.

"What is he doing!?" Daxter whispered.

"Ssh!" Louin hissed.

The closer Jinx moved his face into hers the more and more relaxed Avelli looked. Jak thought the two were going to kiss but as Jinx's face came into too close, Avelli pushed his chest, telling him to stop.

"You know…I can't do that," she whispered. "I can't do to you what I did to Damas."

"Avelli, you don't hafta worry about it," Jinx whispered back. "It ain't gonna effect me at all."

"How do you know that?"

"I just _do_."

Avelli turned her head to the right. "I don't believe you."

"Dammit Avelli!" Jinx suddenly yelled. "You've known since day one that I liked you! I kept givin' you the damn hints but you never took 'em!"

"I can't be with anyone else ever!" Avelli hissed. "You know that better then anyone else 'cause when this happened you were the first one to know! I told you because you were the only one who wouldn't look at me any different! Because," her eyes began to water, "because I trust you more then anyone."

"But," Jinx hung his head once more, "if you weren't this way…"

What the hell are they talking about? Jak thought as he watched everything take place in front of him. What's wrong with Avelli?

"If I weren't this way then Mar wouldn't have suffered his first few years." Avelli sniffled as she picked up Jinx's sentence. "But I don't know if I want to be with someone else now…it just feels like there's no time left."

"You're only forty! You've got plenty of time left," Jinx said as he lifted his head back up.

"Jinx," she laughed a bit even though the happiness from it was missing, "I'm not going to be around _that_ much longer. At best…I have ten years left."

Jak saw the color drain from Jinx's face. A sharp stinging feeling suddenly came to the bottom of Jak's stomach, and he could feel everything inside of him knot up into a tight ball.

"What are you talkin' about?" Jinx asked, his voice cracking in the middle of the sentence.

"I won't live passed fifty," she said, tears running down her face now.

Jinx moved his face into Avelli's once more, only this time he rubbed his face next to hers, trying to calm her down. She wrapped her arms around him tightly in response, and gripped his clothing in her hands. Their bodies meshed together as she pressed herself into him as hard as she could, trying to force the pain in her body to leave her.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me that?" Jinx asked, his voice now becoming hard to hear. "Why?"

"Because," she answered back, "I thought it would better if you didn't know. I was just going to leave and not tell you at all just so…you wouldn't get upset."

Jak watched as Jinx moved his face against his mother's over and over again, and discovered that he could no longer tell who was crying. The stinging feeling faded away as he watched, but the words she had just said caught up with him, causing a different, and more painful feeling.

* * *

The three waited until Avelli and Jinx had walked away to start moving once more. They walked over to the Naughty Ottsel and walked inside only to discover that Veger was there, but Avelli and Jinx weren't.

"Where did she go?" Jak asked as he looked around.

"Who?" Ashelin asked.

"Avelli," Daxter answered as he jumped off of Jak's shoulder and walked over to the bar, towards Tess. "We saw her walkin' down here a few minutes ago with Jinx."

"I'm not going to wait all day for her," Veger hissed as he crossed his arms. "I have important work to get done."

"What work?" Kleiver laughed. "You don't do nothin' all day!"

Jak stepped out of the crowd and walked over towards Veger. "I want you to tell me what you have to do with Avelli right _now_."

"Break this up!" Sig said, coming between the two. "Jak, wait for your mother to get back! She should be the one to tell you."

"I'm tired of waiting!" Jak hissed, glaring towards the tall Wastelander. "I want to know everything right now!"

"Calm down!" Sig roared. "Go sit down before you start getting rash with me."

Jak was about to answer back to Sig when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned his head to the side a bit and saw that it was Axel with a large cut across his face. Axel tugged on Jak's shoulder, and led him to a table where the two sat down across from one another.

"Just sit tight," Axel said with a sigh. "I can't have you pissin' off a Wastelander of his league."

"Why don't you tell me some things?" Jak hissed towards the older man. "I've got a crap pile for someone to answer."

Axel raised his hand. "Just hang on. Damn kids these days ain't got no patience for things. You've been waitin' this long, you can wait a few minutes more."

Jak shook his head and looked down. Looking for something new to talk about, he looked back up towards Axel and thought to talk about the scratch across his face.

"What happened?" Jak asked, sitting back against the booth.

"Metal Head got me." Axel laughed and touched it gently. "I was surrounded and I turned around, little bastard nailed me right in the face. Thank the Precursors I didn't lose my eyesight. We've got one blind person in the family, I don't wanna make it two."

Jak perked up. "Who's blind?"

"Revolver." Axel sighed. "He got himself knocked so hard in a fight he tore the muscles leading from his eye to his brain. His right one is gone and his left one is startin' to go. He acts normal though, strange man."

Torn then walked over towards them. "Hey, Jak I think Veger's gonna end up spending the night if Avelli doesn't show up soon. You have any idea where she could be?"

"No." Jak shook his head.

"Don't you have a communicator that connects to Jinx's?" Axel asked, looking towards the tattooed man. "Call him."

"I tried," Torn said as he pulled out his communicator. "He's turned his off so I don't know what else to do."

Jak stood up. "I'll go find her."

"Stay." Axel pointed downwards.

"Why?" Jak hissed. He hated being told what to do.

**Time transfer in…**

Axel grinned. "That's why."

**Three…**

"I didn't get any sleep." Jak rolled his eyes and rubbed his temples.

**Two…**

"Damn! I was comfy too!" Daxter yelled out from the bar.

**_One

* * *

_ **

After the flashes of light, Jak opened his eyes and found himself standing in the slums, in front of a run down two story house. He blinked, and felt Axel grab him and pull him, as well as Daxter, to the side of the house.

"This is Avelli's house," Axel whispered.

Axel moved the boys to the back of the house and over towards a window that showed a dark living room with Avelli sitting on the couch, folding laundry. Then, from the back hallway, a smaller Jak ran into the room and over to Avelli.

"Aw!" Daxter said. "You were so small!"

"You were about two or so," Axel said, narrowing his eyes so that he could see. "If I'm right, the person who's your step-father should be coming home soon. Avelli always does the laundry at lunch so he should be coming home."

"I have a step-father?" Jak asked, not taking his eyes off of the scene.

"It's not someone good." Axel shook his head.

The front door to the house finally opened, causing Avelli to look up, and small Jak to run over towards his mother's leg, which he hugged tightly.

"Avelli!" a familiar voice yelled.

Veger stepped into the house and walked over to Avelli. "What is this I hear about you burning our marriage silence?"

"Oh my…," Daxter said, his jaw hitting the floor.

"Veger," Jak said as his eyes grew large in size.

* * *

R&R please! 


	15. The Missing

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel, and the large La'Cour family tree which just keeps growing.

Thanks for the reviews! I wanted to see how people were going to react to this. Anyway, the next few chapters when they go back are going to be about Torn and his history in the KG which you will see in this chapter. It was fun and I couldn't resist doing it. Moving on...

Enjoy!

* * *

"Veger," Jak said in surprise.

"Veger's your step-father?" Daxter asked, looking at his best friend. "The world just turned upside down!"

"Avelli!" Veger yelled as he came into the house, silencing the trio. "Answer me!"

"Of course I burned it," she answered, not bothering to look back up at him. "I'm leaving on Friday."

"Leaving?" Veger asked in surprise. "What makes you think that you can leave Haven City?"

Avelli stood up, and scooped up the small version of Jak. "We're leaving to go live in Spargus. I refuse to live here with you anymore."

Veger laughed. "You can't go anywhere. The marriage license bounds you to this city unless you're going back to war."

"Who the hell made that up?" Avelli's voice suddenly changed to a low tone. She placed Mar down onto the couch. "When was this added to the license?"

"I did. I added it to the license when that little rat was born," Veger smiled.

"Don't you ever refer to Mar like that again!" Avelli yelled. "If you ever say something like that again I will see to it that your heart gets ripped out!"

Veger shook his head. "Avelli don't make threats that you can't keep. I came here to tell you that the Baron wants to discuss a few things with you. There's an escort outside waiting to take you to the tower."

"What the hell does he want?" Avelli hissed as she picked up Mar.

"Why did the Baron want to see Avelli?" Jak asked, looking towards his uncle. "Do you remember?"

Axel narrowed his eyes as if he were thinking. "I _don't_ remember exactly. Come on, let's go around to the front."

As Jak turned around to begin walking towards the front of the house, he spotted a small collection of garbage arranged in a certain way. Upon a closer view, Jak could see that what looked like a small bed in the middle of everything. Around the bed were small blankets, and over the bed was a small blanket, which covered it from the sun.

_It's a shelter. Maybe a homeless guy lives there._ Jak thought as he looked away from it.

The trio carefully stepped over all of the trash on the streets, and walked over to the front of the house to see a man dressed in a Krimzon Guard uniform. As they stepped a bit closer to him, they noticed the facial features on the man and found that he was someone very familiar.

"Torn!" Jak whispered, ducking behind a wall with Axel and Daxter.

"Is that really him?" Daxter asked with a laugh behind his voice.

"Yeah," Jak answered, laughing a bit as well.

The front door of the house opened, and Avelli walked out with Mar in her arms. She spotted Torn, and closed the door behind herself with a slight smile on her face.

"Torn, I didn't know _you_ would be leading me to the palace," she said, moving Mar up to her shoulder while she shook her right hand with Torn's left. "How have you been?"

"Worse then some but better then others," Torn answered with a shrug.

Torn's face had yet to develop the sharp features Jak had come to know. His tattoos didn't look as faded, and appeared to look as if he had just had them inked on not too long ago. Being inside of a KG's uniform made him look larger and taller then Jak remembered, and for some reason he wasn't wearing a mask that normally would cover his eyes and mouth.

"How does Torn know Avelli?" Daxter asked. "They look kinda comfy with each other."

"He worked at Cricket's restaurant for a few years until he enlisted in the KG," Axel explained. "Whenever Avelli came back to town from the battle front, she'd go to Cricket's to get something to eat and they just started talking. I think Torn's been in the KG for…maybe a year or so now and he's already a commander."

"Come on Avelli," Torn moved his right arm, "the Baron is waiting."

"Fine." Avelli sighed. "I don't know why you still follow him. He's done horrible things."

The two began to walk away towards the direction of the palace so the trio followed behind as well as they could. They ducked behind people, and trashcans as they listened to the conversation between the two.

"He's going to free the city," Torn said, looking towards the older woman.

"The city was free before," Avelli answered back as she handed Mar a piece of red candy. "There you go baby."

"So why can't he talk again?" Torn asked looking towards the small child. "He's just a child you're babysitting isn't he?"

"Yeah." Avelli moved Mar once more. "I think he might just be a mute, or he could have the Grill Virus."

"Didn't Mar die of that?" Torn asked as he and Avelli turned a corner.

"Yeah."

"Hey," Jak looked towards Axel, "Torn didn't know about the kid being Avelli's?"

"No, she lied to keep everything under wraps," Axel said as he ducked behind a wall once more. "When she asked Torn for help to find her son, she was in the Wastelands and never got the chance to explain everything to him. He thought she was talking about Louin, the only boy she called a son back in this time."

"He didn't put it together when he found the little guy?" Daxter asked as he rolled his eyes.

"Nope." Axel shook his head. "He had too much on his plate anyways."

* * *

The group followed Avelli, Mar, and Torn to the palace that used to belong to Damas and his father, and used their ID's to be allowed in. They followed Avelli up to the top floor where Torn stood outside of the door. She walked into the room while Jak used the old and forgotten security room to listen in on what was going on.

As they watched, Avelli walked into the room and saw that the Baron was talking to Erol but stopped as they both looked towards Avelli. Jak focused in on the Baron and found that his face was without the metal plates he had come so used to looking at.

"Avelli," the Baron rose from his throne, "I'm glad to see that you accepted to come up here. I didn't think that you would agree."

Avelli moved Mar down and covered his ears. "Cut the crap. Since when did you grow big enough balls to ask me up here?"

The Baron laughed. "I wanted to know how your marriage to Veger was going."

"Shut up and get to the point," she hissed.

"How dare you talk to Baron Praxis like that!" Erol hissed as he drew his gun and pointed it towards her.

"Erol calm down." The Baron moved his hand towards the small warrior, telling him to lower his gun. "She's got a mouth on her that I'm used to so it's nothing new. Avelli, I asked you here because I wanted to know if you would go and fight for me."

She laughed. "What a stupid ass question! When Hell freezes over!"

"What if I _forced_ you to go?" The Baron smiled. "After all, you have a war permit that has yet to be fulfilled."

"My war permit is for the Wastelands _only_," she answered, holding Mar closer to her legs. "My father has placed my permit time on hiatus because of my child and that will not be changed."

"When are you supposed to go back?" the Baron asked as he sat down in his throne once more.

"When Mar is ten years old." She stood up straight and glared towards Erol. "Where are you sending your troops? I doubt you're going to look for Damas."

"Look for Damas?" Jak asked out loud. "What is she talking about?"

Axel sighed. "The Baron threw Damas out into the Wastelands and told everyone that he was missing. Needing someone to gain the crown when Damas' father died, the Baron was granted power. Avelli had to pretend that she _thought_ he was gone but she knows that he's alive. They don't know that Spargus has a ruler just like Haven."

"But Ashelin knew about him," Jak said, moving his eyes back to the main event.

"It became common knowledge when you were in jail," Axel answered, quickly doing the math in his head. "By then there was no one to challenge the Baron so things remained the same."

"No," the Baron said, catching the trio's attention. "We're going to the Metal Head nest in order to kill the leader. I'm taking my finest troops and wondered if you wanted to join up."

"I've got a child to worry about." Avelli turned to the right a bit. "You do too so I suggest you watch over her."

"That's right," the Baron grinned, "I don't have someone to watch over her."

Avelli twitched hearing those words and began to walk towards the entrance mumbling to herself. Wanting to know what she was saying, the Baron asked her to repeat what she had just said.

She turned to the Baron. "I said, "shut up and join the club". Happy?"

"Huh." The Baron sat back in his chair. "Goodbye Avelli, I hope to see you soon."

Avelli walked out of the room with Mar, leaving Erol and the Baron alone to talk amongst themselves.

"Is she really worth all of this trouble?" Erol asked, turning back to the Baron. "She's just a little woman!"

"She's got tricks up her sleeves," the Baron answered. "Not only that, but she'll kill a person if she's ordered too without giving a second thought. _That's_ why I wanted her to come to the nest with me."

"But you'll have me, and not to mention Torn!" Erol protested. "I will head straight into the nest and destroy the Metal Head leader!"

"_Torn_ will go into the nest with me first," the Baron corrected. "You will have to be the back up."

"Back up?" Erol asked, his jaw dropping open. "How can you place me at back up? I'm equal, no, better then Torn!"

The Baron stood up. "That's the way it will be Erol! I'm going to my room so don't disturb me until tonight when we move out!!"

Erol stood up straight. "Yes sir," he answered, biting his tongue in the process.

Jak and the others quickly left the security room and out into the main hallway where Torn stood, waiting to escort Avelli back home. They ducked behind a corner, and peaked around it to see and hear what was going to happen.

Avelli came out of the door and walked over to Torn. "You're going to the Metal Head tonight?"

"Yeah." Torn nodded. "We're supposed to head out around midnight but know this guy, we'll be late."

"Don't do somethin' stupid while you're out there," Avelli said as they began to walk down the hallway. "I hear things are bad out here, worse then it is in the desert."

Torn laughed a bit, something Jak had never heard. Again Jak felt something strange when he looked at Torn. He just looked so happy now and wasn't the person Jak knew. He wasn't as cold, and his voice, even though it was still rough, was just in a higher, happier tone.

_This must be before he saw something that changed him._ Jak thought. _What could have happened to him that changed him so much?_

Jak knew that he had changed since he had been injected with Eco but if _that_ didn't change someone, he didn't know what would. He had been through what had felt like Hell and that was a reason to change so Torn had to go through someone that just threw him through a harsh loop. Something must have messed with his head so much that he would no longer laugh or smile around people as much as he used to.

"Worse here then in the desert?" Torn asked looking towards Avelli.

"Yeah, there's more room to play with in the desert," Avelli explained as she gave Mar another piece of candy.

The two kept talking until they walked out of the palace, leaving Jak and the others behind. Jak wanted to move out and follow them but he suddenly heard those words that bothered him so much.

_Time transfer in…_

"Damn." Jak sighed, resisting the feeling to run.

_Three… _

_Two… _

_One_

* * *

After the flashes of lights that they had grown used to seeing, they discovered that they were standing in the middle of the Naughty Ottsel, where they had started. Everyone seemed to be in the same place but they could tell that some time had passed.

"Back already?" Torn asked. "That was only twenty minutes."

"We're happy to see you too," Daxter said, jumping off of Jak's shoulder and walking over to the bar.

"Are they back ye—"

Axel was interrupted by the door to the Naughty Ottsel opening up. Avelli and Jinx walked into the bar, and Jinx, without saying anything to anyone, walked down and sat down in a booth. Avelli walked over to the group but the moment her eyes fell down on Veger who was talking to Kleiver, her mood changed. Jak could just feel anger rise in her, and watched as she reached down into her pocket, pulled out a switchblade, and ran towards the Ottsel.

"Avelli!" Jak yelled as he ran towards her.

"You son of a bitch!" she yelled as she came closer, and closer towards him.

"Whoa, whoa!" Axel sprinted forward and grabbed his younger sister. "Don't do it! What the hell as gotten into you!?"

Torn grabbed the knife out of Avelli's hand and stabbed it down into the bar, preventing her from throwing it at the small Ottsel. After losing her knife, Avelli moved and reached out, trying to grab him.

"Just let me get rid of the bastard!" she screamed. "He deserves to die for what he did to me!"

"Me?" Veger asked as he crossed his arms.

"You know exactly what you did!" Avelli felt Axel pull her back more. Louin came over and pulled her away also. "You stole Mar from me! It was you, you bastard! You left him alone on the streets to rot your disgusting piece of shit! You sat there as Damas died!"

"Avelli," Louin said gently. "You're going to make yourself sick."

"I DON'T CARE!" she screamed, surprising everyone. "If you had any kind of soul inside of you, you would have helped Damas as he died instead of mocking Jak you sick son of a bitch! You wanted power, power over people's lives! You don't deserve the life you have!"

Avelli suddenly brought her hand up to her face, and covered her mouth. She gagged on something, and tried to keep all of it in her mouth but as she gagged once more, blood came out of her mouth and seeped through her fingers.

Louin saw what was happening, and grabbed a nearby cup. Placing it underneath her mouth, she let go of all of the blood in her mouth and began coughing. A few more strands of blood came from her mouth every time she coughed until she finally was able to look up.

"We have to go." Louin held Avelli a bit closer.

Torn walked over to Louin and took the cup of blood. "Be careful."

"Thank you."

Louin stepped out of the door, carrying Avelli as well as he could. Jak began to run after her but Axel held him back. When Jak looked back towards Axel, he sighed and patted his back.

"Leave them alone," he said.

Jak's eyes moved from Axel to Veger who looked a bit surprised. "_You_." He hissed, walking over to him. "You did all of this."

"Just wait a minute!" Kleiver said, raising his hand. "Give the guy a moment to come back togethe'a!"

"Why should we?" Ashelin asked as she crossed her arms.

They all knew what Veger had done in the past but never put together how it would affect Avelli. Everyone had learned what had happened at the same time but for some reason they had never thought about how Veger would feel if he ever had to pay or hear what he had done.

Jak looked away from Veger because of the anger growing inside of him. As he turned his head, he saw Jinx sitting in the booth with a cigar in his mouth but that wasn't what caught his attention. Jinx was just sitting there, staring off into space with red, swollen eyes. Wanting to know what was wrong, Jak walked over to him.

"What's wrong?" Jak asked, standing next to the table.

Jinx blinked slowly. "Blondie," he began, his cigar moving in his mouth, "I ain't gonna be around for a while. You think you can hold down the fort while I'm gone?"

"Yeah." Jak blinked.

"I'll be back in a week."

"You're not going to help us take care of the Metal Heads?" Torn asked as he too walked over to him and stood next to the table.

"We took care of the majority of those bastards," Axel answered, coming into the conversation. "Haven Forest is almost clean."

"It's completely clean," Jinx said. "For now."

Torn placed his hand on Jak's back. "Come on Jak, you need to get some sleep before something else happens to you."

"Right." Jak sighed. "You comin' Dax?"

"Nah." Daxter moved his hand back and forth. "I'm gonna hang out here for a little while."

"Right."

* * *

Jak had been asleep for hours when he felt someone sit on the end of his bed. He opened his eyes and saw Wicken sitting there, looking off towards the right. Blinking, he sat up and rubbed his eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Jak asked in a sleepily tone.

"Came to take you to your mom," he answered with a shrug. "There's something I wanna tell you about her, you, and your dad."

"Fine." Jak moved his legs over his bed. "I'll go get Daxter."

"No." Wicken moved his hand out, forcing Jak to stay in his spot. "I just want to talk to you, not that rat. This is something for you to hear and keep from Daxter."

"Why?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

Wicken shook his head. "Don't argue. Let's just get out of here before anyone else wakes up."

"What time is it?" Jak asked as he moved his arms over his head to stretch.

"Five in the morning." Wicken stood. "Come on, let's get outta here."

Jak got out bed, and followed Wicken out of the back room of the Naughty Ottsel. They walked through the bar and Jak found that everyone but Jinx had fallen asleep somewhere in the bar. Daxter was on the bar with Tess, sleeping in her lap while her right hand was on the back of his head. Jak laughed a bit but turned away.

_Sorry Dax._ Jak thought as he walked out of the bar. _I'll be back later for you. I'll tell you…if it's not something too bad_.

* * *

Jak followed Wicken onto his zoomer and over to the other side of town. He stopped at the edge of the street where the city molded into the pumping station outside of town. The crocked wooden boards that lined the walk began at the house standing at the very edge.

The building was large and the bottom half of it had a large sign that read, "Last Night's Leftovers:_ And Then Some_". The window above the sign was large and had a bed pushed against it.

As Jak looked at the building, Wicken walked over to the end of the sidewalk and tapped a large fishing pole. Seeing that nothing was on the end, he walked away from it and back over to Jak.

"Nothin' yet," he said with disappointment. "Come on, you're mom's inside."

* * *

R&R please! 


	16. Untapped

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Axel, Louin and the large La'Cour family tree.

Thanks for the reviews! Hehe, ya know I didn't know that La'Cour was also a kind of drink you use to make aqua-tines? Stupid food channel is teaching me so much these days. Anyways...

Enjoy!

* * *

Jak followed Wicken towards the large house. Instead of heading through the front door, he walked over to a sliver fire escape on the left side, hanging over the water. They climbed the fire escape until they reached a large blue door, which Wicken opened with a key.

"Come in." Wicken pushed the door open.

He followed him into a large studio apartment with a large bed pushed up against the window. There was a kitchen sitting on the right side of the apartment and two more doors near it. There was a bar, and a couch where a radio and TV stood, the couch with its back facing the bed. Against the far wall there was a desk littered with papers, and a black leather chair.

"Go ahead and sit on the bed," he said, pointing Jak towards the only bed. "I gotta get something to drink before I faint."

Jak did as he was told, and sat down on the one bed in the room. He watched Wicken move over towards the kitchen, turn on the faucet, and quickly chug the water before he turned back around and walked over to him.

"You're mom's downstairs recovering," he answered as he grabbed the nearby computer chair.

"From what? What's wrong with her?" Jak asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Wicken sat down in the chair. "Have you ever heard of an illness called the Grill Virus?"

"No." Jak shook his head as he remembered his mother talking about it when they had visited the past.

"The Grill Virus comes from the desert, meaning that only Wastelanders and Marauders have been found with it. You get the virus from eating raw meat, having sand in your lungs, and from the extreme environment of the desert. It gets into your body and can destroy any part of your body. Avelli's is in her stomach and intestines and it's eating away at those parts of her body," Wicken explained with a small sigh. "And I'm sorry to say that you have it as well."

"From what?" Jak asked as his heart began to pound away in his chest.

Wicken shook his head. "When she had you, her virus had just begun to act up which is why she couldn't fight with Veger too much. She transferred the virus to you because she was pregnant with you. That's why when you were younger you couldn't talk that much; your voice box was where the virus was. I have no idea where it is in you now."

Jak sighed. "How…what do I do?"

"We'll have you tested." Wicken nodded his head. "There's someone else we have to test now anyways so you'll be tested with him but right now you look pretty normal. Nothing too extreme on the outside but doesn't mean that nothing is wrong about your internal organs. "

"How does it get transferred to other people?" Jak asked as he lowered his eyes for a moment.

"Through mucus or blood." Wicken looked out of the window instead of looking at Jak. "When one person has it, and has sex with someone else, the other person gets it too. But because you only have small traces of the virus, it properly won't bother you too much but be careful when you sleep with someone."

"Does that mean that Damas had it?"

"Yes." Wicken looked back towards Jak. "He was sick too because of Avelli."

Jak gripped the covers underneath him. "Is there a cure?"

"No." Wicken shook his head. "There hasn't been a cure strong enough to get rid of it. There is medicine to help people _deal_ with it but there's nothing to destroy it. I know people who are working on it now that the Baron is gone."

"Avelli," Jak began as he took a deep breath in, "said she won't live passed fifty."

"No one with the virus has lived to be fifty," Wicken explained. "The way she looks now at forty…she might not make it to forty-five."

Jak jumped up onto his feet. He had no idea why he had jumped up like that but he just couldn't control the strange feeling sitting inside of him.

"Why not?" he growled.

"If her stomach becomes infected, she'll die within a few months," Wicken answered as he looked up at Jak. "We just have to be careful with her and make sure she does do anything stupid. No going in the rain, no going back to the desert, nothing like that."

"Fine." Jak looked away, gripping his own fists now. "Can I see her?"

Wicken closed his eyes. "Why don't you sit down and calm down a bit? If you go down there and get her all excited you'll throw her stomach up into a bundle and we don't need that."

Growing, Jak sat down onto the bed and thought to himself about everything that had been happening. He just couldn't take it anymore and he just wanted a break from everything that was going on around him. It just seemed that he never got a break; he was always doing something or saving someone.

"I never would have thought that someone like you would be my nephew," Wicken said, breaking through Jak's thoughts.

"Why?" Jak hissed, thinking that he was talking badly about him.

"It's just that I didn't think we had any strong ones left in the family." Wicken closed his eyes.

"What does _that_ mean?"

"The younger I'm in is full of weakling except for Revolver." Wicken opened his eyes once more and sighed. "Everyone else can't put up with anything, and bitch too much. You, on the other hand, proved to me that someone in this family can fight."

"Fight for what?"

"Anything." Wicken sat up. "You put up with the treatments of the Baron and deal with dark eco like I do. I know what happens when dark eco is in your body and how it affects your life. Can you sleep?"

"Yeah." Jak blinked.

He had never realized that someone else might be feeling the same way he had been when it came to the eco pumping through his body. Someone in his family could understand the pain he went through everyday, and the echoes of who he used to be running through his head.

Wicken shook his head. "I don't sleep."

"Is it because of the nightmares?" Jak asked remembering how he had nightmares because of the Eco injections.

"No," Wicken answered. "The Eco just keeps my body moving and every muscle at stance so I don't feel tired. My brain is always going, but sometimes the constant movement wears down my body so I have to take it easy. Other then that I have to deal with my heightened sense but that doesn't bother me as much as the sleeping thing does. Speaking of which, are you hungry?"

Jak sighed. "Not really."

"You should eat anyway." Wicken stood up. "Come on, the restaurant is close to the public right now so don't worry about anyone hangin' around."

Wicken led Jak down a small stairway near the kitchen of the apartment and down into a small hallway. They walked down the empty, dark hallway until they reached a doorway that opened up into a large open room.

The room had booths all along the left and right sides, and a few tables in the middle. The floor was titled with black and white colors and a small counter sat at the front of the place where a cash register stood. Beside that were two sliver doors Jak figured to lead to the kitchen but the thing that caught Jak's attention was the music playing as he walked into the room.

"Damn Cricket!" Wicken hissed as he covered his ears. "Why is it so damn loud!?"

Jak was about to say that it wasn't _that_ loud but then he remembered how Wicken's senses were all above average so the music must have been pounding away at his eardrums.

"Cricket!" Wicken yelled.

"_If you could see the things I see, you'd break down, down, down!"_ Cricket sung as he danced across the room with a broom in his hands. He was wearing a white shirt with a large black apron over it that had white power covering it.

"Why don't you turn it down?" Jak yelled over the loud music.

Cricket opened his mouth to sing once more but the music suddenly cut off, causing him to freeze. Jak, Wicken, and Cricket looked towards the right to see Louin holding a black cord that came from a large speaker. He dropped it on the floor and walked back over to a booth where Avelli sat with her head down.

"Avelli," Jak whispered as he walked over towards her table.

"It's getting worse," Avelli said as she moved her fingers through her hair. "I don't understand why but I can feel something going wrong inside."

"It'll be fine," Louin said as he gently patted her on the back. "The more you stress out about it, the worse it's going to get so just hang tight."

"The Precursors know I just want to get over this thing," she whimpered. "I don't wanna fight this anymore. I give up."

"You can't give up!" Cricket said causing Avelli to look up and Jak to look at him. "When we find a cure and you're sittin' up all better you can give up!"

"When you're at the end of the road," Louin whispered so only Avelli could hear him, "you can give up."

A smile crossed her face. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Ya know," Cricket said, getting back into the conversation, "when I was younger I knew a guy, a hero to be correct. He had been fightin' for three years against an evil man and when he finally killed him you know what his words were?"

"What?" Avelli asked, leaning back against the booth.

"I give up," Cricket answered.

"Then what?" Wicken asked as he walked over to the group.

Cricket looked up to the sky, trying to remember. "It was something like, "finally that's a load off of my mind" and then he killed himself." He ended it with the same old grin.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Avelli twitched.

"Moving on," Cricket pulled a blank notepad from his pocket, "what do you want to eat?"

After Cricket had managed to serve everyone and he was cleaning the place, as he got ready to open, Jak had finally gotten to talk to his mother. The conversation was short, and pointless in Jak's mind but he got passed that and began talking to her like nothing had happened. He noticed that as he spoke to her that she looked a bit paler then she normally did but her lips were almost a blood red color.

_I wonder if that has something to do with her illness?_ Jak wondered as she talked to him.

All of a sudden a man ran by and began banging on the glass doors. Cricket ran over to the door and was about to let him in when a Metal Head jumped on him and carried him away, leaving a blood trail on the floor.

"Metal Heads!" Cricket yelled. "Come on Wicken, Jak! We've got work to do!"

Avelli began to stand up when Louin grabbed her and pulled her back down. She looked towards him with a glare in her eyes.

"Stay. I'm going to be here with you in case some break in but I need you to stay with me," Louin whispered to her. "We can't have you getting all excited."

"But what about Jak?" she asked. "I don't want him to get hurt."

Louin smiled. "He's saved the world three times already, I'm sure he can handle a few Metal Heads."

Jak ran out of the restaurant to see Metal Heads running up and down the streets he thought were going to be clean forever. Wicken stepped out beside him, and Cricket stepped up to his right side.

"Hey," Jak said as he grabbed his gun hanging off of his waist, "what are you going to fight with?"

"We've got a few tricks to fight with." Cricket grinned as he raised his hands, showing Jak his eco gloves.

"What about you?" Jak asked towards Wicken.

Not getting an answer, Jak looked at Wicken to see that he had taken his coat off, revealing his skinny arms with black scars all over them. His eyes were dilating, looking like his dark side's eyes.

"I can't fight with my coat on," Wicken hissed in a deep voice. "Let's go already."

"You guys keep them off me for a minute!" Cricket clapped his hands together. "I'll be there as soon as I get this done!"

Ignoring the two men around him, Jak began to fire his gun towards the close Metal Heads; they fell to the ground. He aimed for a spot right underneath the Metal Head's gem, trying to hit their small brains. But soon too many began coming, and Jak could hit all of them at once just because they were all crowding him.

"A little help!" Jak called out to his partners.

"A please wouldn't kill you," Wicken hissed as he ran out towards the Metal Heads.

He watched Wicken as a black aura appeared around him. He created small dark eco bombs in his hands and threw them, or pressed them against the Metal Heads closest to him, and waited for them to explode. When they didn't, he turned back to Jak.

"Fire at the bombs I planted!" he yelled as he dodged a Meal Head claw.

Doing as he was told, Jak began firing at the bombs, and the Metal Head implanted with the bomb exploded. Liking what he saw, Jak began to hit every Metal Head Wicken had left a bomb on. He was enjoying the sight so much that he failed to hear the grunting noises coming from behind.

"Jak watch it!" Wicken yelled as he noticed the Metal Heads behind the blond.

Jak turned around with his gun drawn to see that he was too late. Cricket was standing there with a large blue stick coming from his hands. Jak blinked as he looked at the stick, and realized that it was Blue Eco.

"Gotta watch your back youngin'." Cricket panted as he stood back up. "Come on, get back to fightin', I'll watch your back."

Jak didn't answer, but instead went back to shooting the Metal Heads. Wicken was hopping around fighting and planting bombs until a Metal Head swiped at him and knocked him back towards Jak.

"You alright Wicken?" Jak yelled over the sound of his gun.

"I will be," he answered as he got back onto his feet.

"There's too many of them," Cricket hissed as he backed up and hit Jak.

More and more Metal Heads were coming down the way with blood on their claws from people they had slain or had injured. The three found themselves ganged up together when Wicken suddenly rose his right hand into the air.

"Watch the restaurant!" Cricket yelled. "I don't wanna lose that to these little pieces of sh—"

"I will!" Wicken panted.

Jak looked up to where Wicken was holding up his hand and saw a large black ball in his open palm. He could feel dark eco gathering there, and for some reason, he felt his dark part tugging on him. He wanted to come out but Jak was pushing him back down to the pit of his stomach were he hopefully would forget about him.

"Get down," Wicken hissed.

Cricket turned around to Jak and pushed him down. Wicken yelled loudly and squeezed the ball in his hands, and it exploded. A large, powerful wave came out from where Wicken was standing and traveled through out the street, shattering the glass next to them.

After a few moments of silence, Jak and Cricket looked up to see Wicken kneeling down on the floor, holding his head. Cricket jumped up immediately and ran over to the younger boy, stepping over broken shards of glass.

"Wicken! Wicken!" Cricket shook Wicken only to have him push the older man away.

"I'll be fine," he hissed. "Just let me get over this, you go rest, you have to be tired."

Cricket smiled. "I'm fine."

Jak got up from where he was and looked around the area. The Metal Heads were all gone, and broken glass had replaced them. As he began to take a step forward, he heard something echoing through the alleyway.

**Time transfer in…**

"Damn," Jak hissed.

**Three…**

I'm _way_ too tired to do this. He thought.

**Two…**

**_One_ **

* * *

When Jak opened his eyes once more, he found himself inside of a KG uniform with Daxter on his shoulder. He looked out of his mask and saw that he was in a large group of others wearing what he was wearing.

"Where are we?" Jak asked.

Around him he could feel the metal underneath him was moving. Looking to his left he could see that he was moving over what looked like water for some strange reason. The boat or whatever he was on suddenly came to a halt, and he could see the men around him move from the impact on land.

"You mean where were you!?" Daxter asked, hitting Jak. "I was lookin' all over for you and I couldn't find you!"

"Sorry Dax." Jak shook his head. "But do you know where we are?"

"Hey Jak," the person next to him whispered, "over here."

Jak looked towards his left and saw Axel standing there in a KG outfit. He moved over towards him, pushing a few people out of the way as he did so. Once he reached Axel, he grabbed Jak's hand and dragged him over to another group of KG.

"Torn's up there," Axel whispered. "I think we're heading out towards the Metal Head nest so be on your guard."

"Torn," another man whispered, "I'd watch yourself."

"Shut it Erol," Torn hissed back.

"Don't act so high and mighty because you're on the first wave!" Erol yelled as he turned to Torn, showing that he was standing right next to him. "You're just going to be _my_ shield so don't do anything stupid!"

"Whatever," Torn muttered underneath his breath.

"What!?" Erol yelled back.

"Nothing." Torn rolled his eyes.

"Men!" the Baron said as he appeared in front of the group. "We're moving out to the Metal Head nest on this fine evening so I expect the best from you! I will be taking Torn's army out first, then Erol's will be following afterwards! Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" the group answered back, minus the trio of time travelers of course.

The door on the front of the boat opened up, and Jak saw the land he had walked on when he was traveling to fight Kor. The men slowly walked onto the land, looking around at everything, and waiting for the Metal Heads to jump out and attack.

"Do you remember hearing about this?" Jak asked Axel.

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't have to come here because I was stationed to do something at the palace. I can't remember exactly what it was though."

"Metal Heads!!" someone yelled. "GET THEM!"

"Don't back down!" the Baron yelled as he took out his sword.

"Watch Torn," Axel said, grabbed Jak's shoulder. "We can't let anything bad happen to him while we're here."

"Right." Jak nodded his head.

"Avelli! Louin!" Keira yelled as she walked into Cricket's restaurant. "Where are you?"

"We're okay," Louin said as he came out of the back room with Avelli.

"We've got the doctor to run the test," she said with a sigh of relief. "And we've found something out, Jinx may have the Grill Virus."

"What?" Louin said in surprise. "How would he get something like that?"

"I don't know." Keira shook her head. "But we need Avelli, _now_."

* * *

R&R please! 


	17. Leftover Moment

I don't own Jak and Daxter, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel and the ever growing La'Cour family tree.

Finally, Torn's chapter! Anyways, thanks for the reviews and I hope you like this chapter because it's one of my favs.

Enjoy!

* * *

_The Present:_

"Avelli!" Torn called out from the Naughty Ottsel. "Come on Avelli!!"

Avelli was walking down the street with Louin holding an umbrella over her head. Rain was falling heavily around them, and it hit the umbrella causing a loud banging noise. Behind them, Cricket held an umbrella over his head, and Wicken stood beside him, wrapped up in thick pieces of clothing.

"You act like it's snowing," Cricket said, looking over to his younger brother.

"I'm freezing my white ass off over here," Wicken hissed his voice a bit muffled because of the scarf over his mouth. "Damn stupid Eco."

"Are you okay?" Louin asked making sure the jacket he placed around her shoulders was still on her. "You need anything?"

"No." Avelli shook her head. "I'm fine, thank you."

They walked by people running by to get home until they finally made it over to the Naughty Ottsel. They all walked into the bar to see a machine sitting in the middle of the room, and Jinx sitting in a chair next to it, with a white tube coming from his arm. The tube suddenly became red, and Jinx gripped his fingers together over and over again.

"We're testing Jinx," Torn said with a sigh. "We think we should test Louin."

"I'm fine with that," Louin said, placing his umbrella near the front door.

"He doesn't have a reason to!" Avelli protested.

"I want to get tested," Louin said as he looked towards Avelli. "I might have gotten it just from going everywhere with you."

"But—"

"Let him do what he wants," Cricket said, patting Avelli on the back. "Remember he's not a kid anymore! He's gotta be a man like the rest of us!"

"I'll be fine." Louin closed his eyes and sighed. "Don't worry."

The machine Jinx was hooked up to beeped a few times and was then turned off by Keira. Samos walked over to a small piece of white paper that was being printed out and ripped it from the printer. He read over it, and sighed.

"Jinx has the Grill Virus," Samos announced. "From what his blood says, the virus might be affecting his lungs. We'll have to run further tests."

"Just what I thought." Jinx sat back in his chair and lit a cigar.

"Maybe you should stop smoking," Keira said, watching the older man smoke.

"Doesn't matter." Jinx moved his head over the side of the chair, and looked up towards the ceiling. "I'll die the way I'm livin'. 'Sides, who knows how long I got left anyways."

Jinx removed the tube from his arm and stood up. He looked over towards Avelli who looked away from him without saying anything. He laughed a bit, and walked forward to the front door.

"I guess I was wrong," he said as he waited for the door to open. "It did affect me."

Avelli closed her eyes and gripped her fists together. Louin wrapped his arm around her, and pulled her towards him as he shot a glare towards Jinx. In return, Jinx grinned, and walked out of the Naughty Ottsel without another word.

"Come on." Louin grabbed Avelli's shoulders. "Let's get you tested to see how your Virus is doing."

Avelli took in a deep breath. "Alright."

* * *

_The Past:_

Jak shot a Metal Head that was coming towards him while Axel ran over to him and grabbed his right shoulder.

"Torn's over there, watch him!" Axel yelled. "We can't have him die!"

"I know!" Jak yelled back in answer.

The battlefield he had been on when he was fighting the Metal Heads back in Haven City was nothing compared to what was going around him now. Larger Metal Heads kept coming, and it began to rain down on all of the men, making mud out of the ground underneath them. He could hear people beside him screaming and calling out for help but he had to ignore them and keep his eye on Torn. The wind blew strongly, pushing the rain down on them harder, and making the mud underneath Jak's feet become thicker, and almost like quicksand.

Dammit, you can't run in something like this. Jak thought as he looked down towards the ground. How can the men run around in something like this?

"Come on Jak!" Daxter said into his ear.

"I'm going!" Jak answered.

Jak ran after Torn as he shot down Metal Heads. Then someone slammed into Torn, pushing him down into the mud. He pushed his hands down into the mud but the more and more pressure he placed onto his hands to push himself up, the deeper and deeper he sunk into the thick mud.

"What the hell!?" Torn screamed over the gunfire.

"Sorry Torn," Erol said sarcastically. "The second unit is moving in, you've failed this mission."

"The Baron's pushing in deeper?" Torn asked, his eyes growing wide. "Why?"

"He wants to meet the Metal Head leader." Erol grinned. "And I will be by his side when he does!"

"You just want to move up in ranks!" Torn began to stand up as he finally found a solid place to put his hands. "You sick son of a bitch! I should—"

Erol slammed the butt of his gun into Torn's head, forcing him back to the muddy ground. He felt the skin on his forehead burst, and the mud that was on ground hit the wound on his forehead, and a sudden stinging feeling overran everything else he was feeling.

"Keep your mouth shut Torn and there might be something in it for you." Erol laughed, and left Torn on the floor.

"Torn!" Jak called out.

"Shit." Torn grabbed his head and got onto his knees. He pulled his hand away from his head and saw that he was bleeding heavily. "That asshole."

"Torn…," another man called out; Torn to look forward. "Torn…hey…"

Jak watched as Torn got up quickly and ran over to a fallen man. He ran as fast as he could in the mud, but slipped once he got next to the man. He hissed out in pain and crawled back over to the fallen man. With a large breath, he moved onto his knees, and cradled the man's head in his arms so that he was looking up at him in the eyes.

"Rouge! Hey Rouge, are you alright?!" Torn asked frantically.

The man opened his bright green eyes and smiled. "I got hit man, I told you I would. I ain't gonna make it through this."

"Just shut up!" Torn shook him. "You'll be fine, just keep the mud out of your wounds!"

Rouge let out a small laugh. "Kinda hard when you're missin' your whole right arm."

Torn's mouth opened as he looked down towards Rouge's right arm only to see that it had been blown off. The bone was sticking out, and blood was pouring out of it like a waterfall. Torn grabbed a bandana he kept in his pocket, and began to wrap Rouge's arm up when he heard the man laugh.

"Don't bother I ain't gonna be here much longer," Rouge said as blood began to fall from his mouth.

"Don't say that!!" Torn shook his head. "Come on, you'll be fine!"

"Torn," the man began, "don't stay here…you gotta get outta here before something happens to you. I don't wanna lose you here. Get up, get the Baron and get outta here. Take as many people as you can. Get…outta…her—"

The man stood moving. He stopped breathing, but his eyes remained open, looking up towards the dark sky. Torn screamed his name over and over again, and shook him, trying to wake him up even though he knew that he was long gone.

Jak had never seen Torn act in such a way. Torn's screaming sounded so pained, and so full of emotions that he could pick out just one to describe it. Jak now know what had changed Torn so much, and what had made him the person he would be.

"Damn…," Daxter whispered.

Torn suddenly stood up and ran towards where Erol had gone. Jak quickly followed behind him, shooting Metal Heads as he ran with the other man. Torn soon led Jak and Daxter to a large area swampy area where the Baron stood in the middle of the area with his sword drawn.

"Kill them all!" the Baron yelled to his officers. "Don't leave one standing!!"

"Baron!" Torn yelled as he ran over to him. "We have to pull back, we can't win like this! The first troop has been ripped apart! We don't have a leg to stand on!"

The Baron growled. "I'll tell you when to pull back! We're here in the nest and I'm not going to leave just because we lost a few troops! You knew the job would be hard when you took it!!"

"But…Baron," Torn said as his mouth dropped in surprise.

"His going to lose it," Jak whispered to Daxter.

"I think he's _lost_ it," Daxter answered back.

"Baron!" Torn said with a firm voice. "We're pulling back _now_."

"No we're not!" the Baron hissed.

A loud buzzing noise caught Jak's attention. He looked up into the sky to see the Metal Head leader coming towards the two of them with his claws out. Jak raised his gun up and shot the claw heading towards Torn.

"We will win this war!" the Baron roared. "I'll save Haven Ci—"

The Metal Head leader swooped by and with his claws, swiped the left side of the Baron's face, knocking him to the ground. Torn stood there with a blank look and then shook his head.

"Baron!" Torn yelled.

Jak ran over to Torn who then ran over to the Baron. Jak looked over towards the Baron only to see him lying on the floor with the left side of his face missing. The bones of his face were exposed, as well as his muscles. Blood was pouring out of his face, and his left eye was hanging down from his face by a single cord.

"Baron!!" Torn yelled once more.

"What did you do!?" Erol demeaned as he walked over to Torn and the Baron. "I knew you were in the wrong position!"

"Twisted bastard!" Torn jumped on Erol and tackled him to the floor.

"Get off!" Guards ran over to Torn and pulled him off, but not before Torn managed to punch Erol in the face a few times.

"Get a hold of yourself Torn!" another guard demanded as he helped to get Torn up. "We gotta get the Baron to a hospital before he dies!"

"Fuck the dammed Baron!" Torn screamed.

"So this is why Torn was Court Marshaled for treason," Axel said. Jak looked to his right and saw the taller man standing next to him with blood all over his uniform.

"He was Court Marshaled?" Jak asked in surprise.

_Time transfer in…_

_This is why Torn has changed so much._ Jak thought to himself. _This is why Torn is the way he is today_.

_Three…_

_Torn._ Jak closed his eyes.

_Two… _

_One_

* * *

When the three arrived in their normal timeline, Jak fell to the floor. Daxter jumped off of him and began to shake him over and over again.

"Jak! Jak!!" Daxter called out.

Axel ignored Jak's plight and looked around to see that they were standing in the room above Cricket's restaurant. With a sigh, Axel bent down and picked up Jak, and moved him over to Cricket's bed.

"He's just tired," Axel said. "He's been doing a lot lately."

"He should stop making me worry!" Daxter crossed his arms. "He's gonna give me a heart attack one of these days!!"

"You're infection is still in your stomach and lower intestines," Samos said as he read from another piece of paper. "It looks like it's getting worse Avelli. I'm sorry."

"I don't care." She shook her head back and forth as she took the tube out of her arm. "I know what's wrong with me, it's Louin I'm worried about!"

"Don't." Louin walked over to her. "I'll be fine, trust me."

"Don't sat that!!" Avelli screamed as she stood up. "Jinx said the same damn thing and look what the hell happened to him!"

"Calm down." Cricket moved his hand back and forth. "You're gonna get yourself sick again!"

Avelli stood up and walked over to a booth where she sat down. Louin sighed, and walked over to the machine where he stuck his arm out. Keira brought out a new tube, and gently stuck a needle into his vain.

After a few moments, the machine printed out another piece of white paper. Samos took it, read it to himself, and then read it out loud.

"Louin is free of any traces of the Grill Virus," Samos read; a sigh flowed through out the room. "So we don't have to worry about anything."

* * *

Hours later and Jak had finally woken up. He walked down to the Naughty Ottsel where he found everyone minus the La'Cour family, and the girls, hanging around, drinking.

It was nice to finally be away from his family, and here with his friends. There was nothing here to push him or make him feel that he had to do something, he was just here to mess around and say whatever came to his mind.

"Hey," Jak said as he walked over to the bar.

"Hey Blondie!" Jinx said as he turned around with a smile on his face. "Come and sit down, I'll buy you a drink!"

Jak sat down and saw Daxter drinking already. He got his drink, finished it, and was left to play with the cherry. The more and more he looked at it, he remembered something he had heard a few years back.

"Hey you know what I heard?" Jak said.

"What?" Sig asked, looking over towards him.

"If you can tie a knot in the end of a cherry with your tongue, that means you're a good kisser." Jak grinned. "You wanna try it out?"

Jinx, Kleiver, Torn, and Daxter grabbed a cherry. They all looked at one another, and then placed the cherries into their mouths.

"Cherries are for eatin' not for teasin'!" Sig said, shaking his head from side to side.

Daxter suddenly grabbed his throat. "Oh Mar! I swallowed the whole thing!"

Jak tried not to laugh as he moved his tongue around in his mouth. Jinx stuck his tongue out first, showing that he had tied it into a lose knot. Everyone around the bar laughed while Torn took his cherry stick out of his mouth, showing that he had tied it.

"Sick!" Daxter twitched.

"At least I could do it." Torn rolled his eyes.

They all looked towards Kleiver who looked back at them as if he were waiting for something.

"What?" he asked.

"Your cherry," Sig answered.

"I swallowed it!" Kleiver pounded his fist on his chest. "Cherries are for eatin' just as Sig said!"

Jak then pulled out his cherry stick, showing that he had tied it as well. He placed it on the bar and everyone began laughing, and slamming their fists down onto the bar as the alcohol came into their systems.

"Man." Jak rested his head on the bar. "I haven't laughed like this…"

"In forever!" Daxter laughed.

"Yeah." Jak mumbled. "Forever."

* * *

Back at Cricket's house, Avelli was lying on Cricket's bed while Cricket, Louin, Wicken, and Axel stood beside her, listening to what she had to say.

"I don't have anything to leave anyone," she mumbled as she moved her face to the left side, away from everyone. "When I die, you guys can take whatever you want."

"Don't talk like that." Louin shook his head. "You're not gonna die soon so just hang on."

"Avelli," a new voice said.

Everyone looked to the front door to see Veger standing there with his arms crossed. He walked over to the group, and stopped in front of the bed while Avelli gripped the sheets underneath her.

"What the hell do you want?" she hissed. "You know I can't get up and kill you now, it's too much stress on my body."

"I know but I'm here to talk to you." Veger sighed. "About what I did."

"What!?" Avelli sat up. "How can you come here and talk to me? After everything you did to me?! How can you!?"

"I need to talk to you about Jak becoming King of Spargus," Veger said, forgetting what he had said before. "He has to return to Spargus before the Marauders try to take over the city."

"Fine I'll talk to him." Avelli shook her head.

"Revolver is protecting the city as of now," Veger explained, "the Marauders are coming into the city and causing problems among the city. People are asking why a La'Cour is defending the city and I fear Jak will lose the crown."

"How can I believe you?" Avelli hissed.

"I'll go and see," Louin said, breaking into the conversation. "If you're lying Veger, I'll see to it myself that your tongue is ripped out."

Veger twitched. "I'm telling the truth."

"So am I." Louin turned back to Avelli. "I'll be back, will you be okay?"

"I'll be fine." Avelli nodded.

"I'll watch her!" Cricket jumped up and grinned. "Don't worry about anything!"

"That makes it worse." Louin twitched.

"Be careful." Avelli sighed. "When you meet Revolver, make sure you don't piss him off, I don't know how his temper is these days. Don't do anything stupid either."

"I won't." Louin smiled.

Louin walked out of the room as he grabbed an umbrella on the way out. He closed the door behind himself, and Avelli watched as he walked down the street outside, and waved back to her.

"I hate it when he leaves," Avelli whimpered as she fell back down into the bed. "I don't want him to leave….it scares me."

She buried her face into the pillow on the bed and began crying. She whimpered out words that the others really couldn't understand, but after a few moments, Cricket walked over to her and sat down on her side.

"He's not going to leave." Cricket sighed as he patted her back.

"If he leaves, I'll be all alone." Avelli shook her head back and forth. "I don't have anyone to be with. "By this time I was supposed to be with my baby…and my husband."

"You'll be fine." Cricket nodded his head. "Just relax for a while, you've got a lot on your mind right now."

"Avelli," Veger whispered.

"You've screwed up a lot," Wicken said, looking towards the small Ottsel. "Look at you, and look at what you've done."

"I know," Veger hissed.

"She's dying." Wicken closed his eyes.

"Yes." Veger hung his head. "I know that."

"Jak and Louin are the only thing she has left." Wicken nodded. "And if you have anything to do with them getting hurt, I won't hold her back as she tries to kill you."

"I understand." Veger looked back up towards Avelli.

* * *

R&R please! 


	18. The Broken

I don't own Jak and Daxter, or any of it's characters, I only own Avelli, Louin, Axel, and the ever growing La'Cour family tree which is about to grow by another in this chapter. Also, I don't own Cat or Neko, they belong to Sleepingelf so please check out her stories as well!

Thankies for the reviews! Anyway, I won't bore you with this so,

Enjoy!

* * *

Jak was enjoying his moment with his guy friends, and laughing when Wicken walked into the bar, dramatic as always. Everyone turned and looked at him except for Jinx who continued to drink.

"What?" Jak asked, blinking.

"You have to return to Spargus." Wicken looked at him seriously. "The Marauders are trying to take over the city and the people there need their leader."

"Fine." Jak moved and stood up, stretching. "Come on Dax, we'd better get going."

"Fine, fine." Daxter jumped down and onto his usual shoulder.

"I'm comin'." Kleiver stood up. "Gotta protect my land after all."

"Me too." Sig looked up and down his Peace Maker to make sure it was in good condition. "I ain't gonna let some Marauders take my home."

Jak smiled at the people who could, and were going to help him but his eyes soon landed on Jinx who kept drinking.

"Aren't you coming?" Jak asked, looking somewhat hurt.

"No. Ain't my place." Jinx took another shot. "I gots to stay here and make sure this place is safe."

Jak turned away from the other blond. "Fine."

"Let's go already," Wicken hissed, placing his hands in his pockets. "If we get there before dawn, we may be able to set up a base or something."

"We'll watch the city," Torn said; Jak to turn around. "Don't worry about anything, I'll make sure there's a city for you when you get back."

"Good." Jak grinned.

* * *

Once on the transporter, the group waited in silence. The transporter landed, and they left into the city and walked over to the city carport. They walked into the main city and Wicken led them to a house sitting near the beach.

"This," Wicken began as he walked up to the front door, "is a place Revolver bought a while back ago in case we ever needed a place to live. He might be in here with the others."

Wicken knocked three times, paused, and then knocked four more times. The door opened, and a shotgun barrel came out of the door, looking Wicken in the face. Wicken sighed, grabbed the barrel, and pushed it down.

"Revolver it's me," Wicken said firmly. "Come on let us in."

"Us?" a scratchy male voice said from behind the door. "What's the password?"

"Uh…" Wicken gulped. "I don't know Revolver, come on just let us in already. I know Avelli and Veger are in there."

The door opened to reveal a man standing there with the shotgun in his hands. He was Jak's height with bright white hair that was standing upwards. He had a black patch over his right eye, and his other eye was a bright green color. He was wearing blue pants with a black shirt that left his arms and shoulders naked, and stopped a bit passed his waist. Around his waist was a white scarf that tied off on his left side and traveled down to his thick black boots.

"Come in then," he hissed. "Hurry up before sand gets in the damn house!!! Once you get it in, you can never get it out!!"

"Alright, alright." Wicken walked in quickly with his head down. "Hurry up before he freaks out!"

The group looked at one another, and then walked in after Wicken in silence, fearing they may say something that would set the strange man off.

Once in the house they were lead into a living room where Avelli, Veger, Louin, Axel, and Cricket sat. Jak's group walked into the living room and sat down on the white floor and looked around at the strange sights.

In the white walls around them were large scrapes and deep cuts. Large holes as well were on in random places on the wall. Next to the door leading into another hallway was lined with thick pieces of string, making sure no one could enter. In a bookshelf beside them was a stack of grenades, and knifes.

"Wow…" Jak blinked as he looked around.

"I think this guy is crazy," Daxter whispered.

"I think so too," Jak whispered back.

Revolver came back into the room with a small white teacup in his hands. The small bag was hanging out of it as he drank it. As Jak watched him, he noticed that his hands were shaking a bit.

"When did you start drinking tea?" Wicken asked as he looked at him.

"A year ago," he answered after taking a sip. "It helps calm me down."

"I'd hate to see him angry," Daxter whispered back.

"Now, what do you want? I've got a lot more things to worry about other then a damn visit," Revolver hissed, looking up at Wicken.

"We're here to help," Wicken answered, crossing his legs.

"Good. Now there's a big sandstorm comin' up this afternoon so knowin' the Marauders they'll try to pull something then." Revolver placed his tea down on the floor. "I've got people stationed all around watching all the time but I still don't feel comfortable. Marloni's been hidden away to make sure he doesn't get killed so we don't have to worry about that."

"Good." Wicken sighed. "We'll have to take out their leader."

"We don't know who the leader _is_," Axel said, crossing his arms.

"I've checked out the desert myself and I couldn't find anyone who knew anythin'! I'm tired of this crap, I'm just gonna go out there and kill every damn Marauder that gets in my way!" Revolver hissed, moving his right hand up and down in the air. "The only good Marauder is a dead one!"

"Revolver…," Wicken said as a blush covered his face. "Please restrain yourself."

"Those bastards don't know what they're getting into!" Revolver yelled. "I'll get rid of every one of 'em!"

"That's a real Wastelander for ya," Sig whispered to Jak.

Seeing Sig whisper to Jak, Revolver noticed that he didn't know the young man sitting in his living room. He stared at him; Jak took notice, and then a grin crossed his face.

"You're Damas' boy ain't ya?" he asked, moving forward a bit.

"Yes." Jak nodded.

"But you got a La'Cour look on ya…" He blinked. "Who the hell spit in Damas' family pool and came up with this kid? I know he ain't Merith's! She's the gay of the family so she don't swing that way!"

"Mine." Avelli raised his right arm.

"Yours? He looks too old to be yours."

"It's a long story," Louin said with a sigh.

"Hey boy! Why ain't your hair dyed yet?" he asked Louin. "You're a La'Cour now ain't ya?"

Louin shook his head. "I haven't been adopted. We've waited too long. But it's for the best, I think."

"What? You too chicken shitted to have the La'Cour last name?" Revolver laughed a bit. "Come on! Ain't nothin' bad about our last name!"

"Didn't you dye your hair white so that the Marauders you were hunting wouldn't know that you were a La'Cour Uncle Revolver?" Louin asked lowering his head as if he were embarrassed by the whole thing.

"What?!" Revolver asked in shock. "Who told you that!? I dyed my hair 'cause green hair in the Wastelands burns! White hair don't attract no sun rays!"

**Time transfer in…**

"Great." Axel hung his head. "We're leaving."

**Three…**

"Be back before nightfall!" Revolver hissed, not understanding the problem at hand.

**Two…**

"If it were that easy." Jak sighed.

**_One_**

* * *

The white lights passed the trio, and when Jak opened his eyes he found himself standing on Sandover's beach once more. He gasped as he looked at the beach he had grown up on but then felt Axel drag him behind a large rock.

"What—"

"There's a girl coming!" Axel answered, hushing Jak.

A small girl came onto the beach and stood where the water touched the sand. She was clutching something in one of her hands Jak couldn't make out but as he looked at the small girl, he realized just who it was though parts of her were hidden in a strange, dark shadow.

"Cat…," he whispered.

"Yeah that's Cat!" Daxter whispered. "What's she got?"

The young woman's face soon changed to look of frustration as she fiddled with the device in her hands.

"Ah!" She threw the device down onto the sand. "This thing is worthless!"

She puffed up her small cheeks as she found herself growing more and more frustrated with what had happened with her device. Jak wanted to go over to her and comfort her as she began to cry out of frustration but stopped as he reminded himself of the timeline's fragile needs.

"How am I gonna get…" She sniffled, "home now? If I can't get through, then I can't open the warp gate."

"The device!" Axel whispered.

Jak looked down towards the ground and saw the device Cat had thrown down to the ground was now floating away from her. The ocean waves pulled it farther and farther out, and after a few moments, Cat noticed what had happened.

"Oh no!" she screamed.

She began to run towards the device but a wave came on strong, and the poor child ran away from it. It was then Jak remembered her fear of water.

"She's in trouble!" Daxter said, covering his mouth.

"I can't…help her…," Jak growled and looked away.

The device soon faded away into the sunset; the small girl fell to her knees, crying. She screamed and cried as hard and loud as she could but the device would not, could not come back. Jak felt a pain in his heart as he watched his long time crush cry but knew he couldn't do anything.

A long white stream suddenly came across the image the three were looking at. The white stream seemed to rip the image apart, making it separate, and throwing the three back into the white river they had come to know as the timeline. After a flash of a green color, they found themselves standing in Revolver's living room once more.

"What the hell was that?" Jak asked as he looked around the room he had just left from. "Why are we back so soon?"

"Must be that broken Precursor Ring," Axel said, blowing the whole situation off.

"That was quick," Revolver said, looking at the three.

"I didn't get to finish telling him the story." Louin blinked, looking at the three also.

"Whatever." Axel sighed. "I'm gonna get something to eat at the market, you wanna come Jak?"

"Yeah." Jak sighed.

"I want to go too." Avelli stood up with her arms crossed, signaling Louin to stand up as well.

Axel turned to Wicken. "Stay here and tell Revolver about Jak. He needs to get all caught up before something else happens."

"Right." Wicken nodded.

Axel, Jak, Daxter, Avelli, and Louin walked out of Revolver's house and over to the market that wasn't too far away. The chatter between them was small, and short lived as they picked up random food items and bought them. Jak bought a small red fruit and looked at his reflection in it.

I'm the king of this place…the prince. He thought as he looked at himself. I haven't changed a bit but…it sure feels like it.

With a sigh he looked away from the fruit and over towards his mother to see her looking down towards the sandy floor. One of her arms was crossing her chest, holding her other arm, which hung downwards.

_I wonder what's wrong with her?_ Jak asked himself.

Suddenly a large siren rang through out the city,; people ran and hid behind the nearest rock they could find. Jak looked around as the people of Spargus aimed their guns and looked around frantically.

"What's going on!?" Daxter yelled over the siren.

"Sand storm!" Louin answered, covering his ears. "We have to move! The Marauders will be coming soon and we need to get to our meeting point with the others!"

"But Revolver's place is right there!" Jak pointed backwards.

"If we don't meet him where we're supposed to, there's a chance he could mistake us for a Marauder and kill us!" Avelli yelled.

Jak twitched and looked over towards Daxter. Daxter blinked and shivered as he thought about pissing Revolver off.

"Where is it!?" Daxter asked.

"By the palace!" she answered back.

Once the group arrived near the palace, they spotted a gang of Marauders hiding in the sand that was being blown around. As they got closer, and closer, they spotted Revolver and the other members of their group on the stairs, taking aim.

"Jak," Louin whispered, "watch Avelli for me."

"Right." He nodded. "I will."

"They're getting ready!" Louin said to the others. "Come on, we've got to meet them! Watch out for the sand, it'll block your vision and jam your guns!"

"Right." Axel grabbed the gun off of his waist. "Good luck."

Jak grabbed his gun as well and was about to head out when he saw Avelli start to move as if she were going to fight. Not wanting to say anything that would draw attention to them, he grabbed her and pulled her back.

"You can't go," Jak said, holding her hand.

"What?" she asked in surprise. "I have to go Jak, I can't stay here."

"No! You're going to get hurt!" Jak squeezed her hand in his. "I can't let you go, please just stay here."

Avelli smiled, and slipped her hand out of Jak's grasp. "Sorry Jak, this is the thing I was raised to do, and I can't stop doing it now."

Before Jak could say anything else, she ran off, towards the battle. He began chasing after her, but stopped once shots came towards his direction.

"What are you waiting for?" Daxter asked, jumping up and down. "We're gonna get shot!"

Jak ignored his Ottsel friend. "Avelli!" he called. "Avelli wait!"

She stopped running and turned around to Jak. The wind was blowing her hair towards Jak, and because of the wind, Jak had to squint in order to see his mother clearly. Her body suddenly relaxed, and a smile crossed her face.

"Jak—"

A single shot rang out and stopped Avelli from talking. The bullet entered through her left shoulder, and then pushed out from the front. She grabbed her shoulder and fell over a bit from the pain as Jak began running towards her.

"Avelli!" Jak called out as he ran. "Avelli!!"

Another shot rang out as Avelli stood up only this time the bullet traveled through her chest and fired out towards Jak. Blood spurted out from the two close wounds on her left side, and she fell backwards into the sand.

"AVELLI!"

Jak finally reached his mother and bent down toward her side. He kneeled down to pick her body up but found that he just couldn't touch her. All of the feelings of what he had just been through with Damas ran through him, only this time it was the only one he had left, his only other parent.

"Avelli…Come on," he whispered. "Come on, this isn't anything. Come on, get up."

He moved his hands once more down towards her but stopped when his eyes focused on the wound in her chest where the blood was seeping out.

"_It is a good day to die."_

"No." He gripped his fists together. "You can't die on me…Avelli…Mother."

Before Jak's mind could process anything else, he felt his Dark Eco finally reach its climax. His anger finally ripped through everything else inside of him and he began to enter his dark side. Every muscle in him grew stronger and began to spasm because of the Eco, and every bone broke and then realigned itself in order to fight. His claws grew outwards, and his pupils dilated until they consumed his whole eye.

Daxter jumped off of his shoulder and stood by Avelli as his friend mutated and then ran off towards the Marauders.

Avelli slowly opened her eyes and looked forward to see Dark Jak attacking the Marauders and killing them. She moved her right arm out towards him, trying to grab him and hold on to him but she was just too far away from him.

"Jak…," she choked out. "I'm sorry…I made you become what you have…if I…hadn't been so selfish…you'd be happier. If I had watched you…if I had protected you."

"Avelli!" Louin called out as he ran towards her. "Avelli!"

He looked around and saw that she was lying on the ground. He threw his gun to the ground and ran as fast as he could to her side, and gently picked her up, placing her head in his chest.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "Where did you get hit?"

Avelli laughed a bit as blood fell from the side of her mouth. "I'm sorry I didn't adopt you."

"What?" Louin looked down towards her. "Why are you talking about this now?"

"I'm sorry," she said once more. "I'm not afraid though…I'm not afraid to die."

"Die? You're not going to die! Stop talking like that!"

She smiled. "I'll be waiting for you Louin."

Tears fell from Louin's eyes as he looked out towards Dark Jak, trying not to look down at Avelli.

"Shut up! You're not leaving!"

She grabbed his black trench coat. "You are my second son."

Avelli buried her face in Louin's chest and took in his scent for the last time. She thought of the members of her family and friends, and remembered all of their faces. She let her mind wonder over Damas' face, and finally Jak as a child, and then as an adult, both images giving her the same smirk.

"Goodbye," she whispered.

Louin felt Avelli's grip on his coat suddenly become loose. He looked down quickly to see her lying there, the light and energy gone. He shook her once, and then again, hoping to stir her.

"Avelli?" he whispered. "Avelli?"

After a few seconds of not getting a reaction, he bent over, clutching her body in his arms tightly. When he couldn't hold it back any longer, he sat up and screamed up towards the sky as tears cascaded down his face.

"AVELLI!!!" he screamed out.

Hearing his mother's name, Jak came out of his Dark state to see dead Marauders all around him. He looked back towards where his mother had been to see Louin screaming up towards the sky.

"Avelli…," he whispered.

* * *

Back at the Naughty Ottsel, Jinx was sitting in a booth with his head down on the table. Torn looked over towards him and shook his head surprised that Jinx had fallen asleep once more.

"Avelli…," Jinx whispered in his sleep.

* * *

R&R please! 


	19. To Awaken

I don't own Jak and Daxter or any of its characters. I only own Avelli, Axel, Louin, and the ever growing La'Cour family tree. Sleepingelf owns Cat/Neko.

I am so sorry I haven't been able to update this story in so long! My computer died with the other chapters of this story on it, and it took me forever to get the chapters back. I had to redo this chapter, but I like the way it's turned out. Anyways…..

Thanks for reviewing everyone! This story is almost done! Just hang in there!!

Enjoy!

* * *

"What the hell happened?"

Axel ran over to where Louin stood with Avelli in his arms but stopped as his eyes fell on Avelli and the blood pooling underneath Louin. Wicken and Cricket came along but stopped when they saw what Axel was looking at.

"What happened?" Sig asked as he came over.

"She's gone," Wicken answered as he walked over to Louin.

"No she's not!" Louin yelled, holding Avelli closer to him. "She's not dead! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Let me see her." Wicken placed his hand on Louin's shoulder only to have Louin pull away from him.

"NO! She's FINE," Louin screamed.

Jak walked over to the group with his arms daggling down by his side. His feet shifted around in the sand, and every muscle inside of him ached from all of the Eco he had pumped into them in such a hurry. When he arrived in front of Louin, the orange haired man looked up at Jak.

That look. Jak hadn't seen anyone look like Louin did at the current moment but as he looked, Jak wondered if that was how _he_ looked while his father died. That single thought sent chills through Jak that he had felt with his father, but this time…something was different. After Avelli's death, Jak wouldn't have any parents. Jak was truly, now an orphan.

"How could you?" he asked.

"What?" Jak asked.

"I asked you to watch her!" Louin gently placed Avelli down on the floor and stood up. "How could you let this happen to my Mother!?"

"_Your_ Mother?" Jak asked, gripping his fists.

"I was more of a son to her then you were!" Louin glared towards Jak.

"Then maybe _you_ should have been watching her." Jak glared back towards him, gripping his fists together as well.

Louin jumped on Jak, knocking him back down to the ground. He grabbed the blond's collar and raised his right fist to him when Revolver pulled Louin off, and threw him away from Jak.

"If ya'll wanna fight like dogs, I won't hesitate to put you down like one." Revolver took out a small handgun and pulled the hammer back to prove his point. "Now I know the both of you are upset but this ain't no Mar dammed pissin' contest! Both of you get up and start actin' like the men Avelli raised you to be!"

Louin stood and that was when Jak saw all the blood that had stained Louin's clothing. Perhaps it was because his clothing was black that caused it to contrast so brightly and catch his eye but it was the _amount_ of blood that covered Louin that caused a chill to go up his spine.

"Most of a Marauders are gone now but more might come." Revolver placed his gun back onto his hip. "Let's move in and regroup tonight once the moon is high enough."

Jak moved towards Avelli in order to pick her body up when Sig stepped in front of him and bent down.

"I'll get her Cherry," he said gently. "Don't worry about anythin'."

Jak nodded and stood back while Sig picked up his mother's body. He felt Daxter jump back on his shoulder in silence, and then a paw tug on his ear, telling him that he was there.

Time Transfer in… 

"I don't want to do this anymore," Jak mumbled to himself.

_**Three…**_

_**Two…**_

_**One**_

* * *

When the white light dissipated, Jak, Daxter, and Axel found themselves standing on top of the Racing Stadium. They fell to their knees and dig their heels into the rough rooftop to prevent from sliding down to the ground. Once they were laying down on their stomachs in a position where they wouldn't fall, they looked down into the Racing Stadium where a race was being held.

"Here?" Jak asked.

"What's it look like?" Axel asked. "Does this look familiar to you at all?"

"Fool!" the Baron roared from the track. "Don't you get it?! It's over, Jak! All the heroes died long ago! Only survival remains...by whatever means! This city is mine! These lives are mine! This war is mine! And in war...PEOPLE DIE! Kill him!"

"This is…the final race," Daxter said as he took looked down towards the Stadium. "Ol' red head is about to get it in a few minutes."

"Look out!" a KG yelled.

Jak, Daxter, and Axel watched as Erol sped towards Jak and the Baron. Erol aimed the front of his zoomer towards Jak's back as Jak turned around to see what the fuss was. Erol pushed on the gas and pulled down his racing mask.

"I win, Jak!" Erol muttered.

Jak jumped out of the way of Erol's speeding zoomer but instead of hitting the Dark Eco like Erol had done before; Erol hit the brakes and stopped inches away from the barrels. Erol stood, and took out handgun.

"This is it Jak!" Erol laughed. "Say goodbye!"

"Wait…" Jak blinked as he looked towards Axel. "This…isn't right. Erol _died_ in that crash."

"Only to come back later as a cybo freak!" Daxter added.

"Dammit!" Axel slammed his fists down onto the Stadium's roof. "The timeline is fucked! Something's wrong!"

Jak twitched. "Avelli," he whispered.

"What?" Daxter and Axel asked as one.

"She can't—"

Before Jak could finish, Erol fired his gun towards the Jak of the past. A scream filled the Stadium as the bullet left Erol's gun, and ripped through Jak's right shoulder. Daxter ran over to his best friend and shook him as blood poured out through his wound.

"Arrest him!" the Baron ordered.

Up on the roof, Jak's right arm disappeared and was replaced by a mechanical one instead. Axel and Daxter watched in awe as Jak's arm changed, but that wasn't the only thing that changed on Jak. Krimzon tattoos began to appear on Jak's face, and a dark skin blotch appeared underneath his left eye.

"What the hell?" Jak asked as he looked at himself.

"Time's screwed," Axel answered. "We've got to get back NOW."

* * *

With the help of Jak's new mechanical arm, the three dropped down safety from the Stadium roof, and hid behind an abandoned building. Axel sat on a small box in a large empty living room while Jak studied his arm.

"Where could time have gone wrong?" Axel asked while he rubbed his chin.

"Wow…this thing has a sniper rifle built into it," Jak said in awe.

"Don't get too attached!" Axel warned. "That _thing_ is bad news and until it's gone from your arm, we're not safe."

"It sure is cool though," Daxter said as he too studied the arm.

"When we get back to our timeline _don't_ say anything to any one. They don't know what's going on." Axel nodded as he spoke. "They won't know that anything's changed you got that?"

Jak nodded. "How can we find out where we messed up?"

Axel sighed. "I don't know kid…I really don't know."

Jak looked around the room to see if he could find a mirror. He spotted broken pieces of glass sitting in a corner of the room. Without saying anything, Jak walked over to the broken glass and picked up a single piece. He looked at himself in the mirror.

The KG tattoos covering his face made the color of Jak's eyes stand out more then usual and the black mark underneath his left eye didn't help. To be honest Jak looked…dirty. He looked dirty, mangled, and uneasy. A part of Jak liked the look, but the other part of him thought it made him look _too_ uneasy.

Time Transfer in… 

Axel stood. "About time," he hissed.

_Three…_

Jak sighed and stood as well. "Here goes nothing," he whispered to Daxter.

_Two…_

"Right behind ya buddy!" Daxter said with a grin.  
_  
One_

* * *

Instead of being brought back to their normal timeline, the trio found themselves on the sandy beach of Sandover once more. The sunlight dripped down on them, and warmed them as a soft breeze cascaded over their senses.

"Back here again?" Axel asked.

"What—"

Once again Axel dragged Jak and Daxter behind the large rock. Jak remembered why this time, and looked out towards the beach. There, the small girl Cat appeared once more. In her hands was the device that had floated away the last time they had witnessed her. That was when it hit Jak.

"The device," he whispered.

"What about it?" Daxter asked.

"We can't let it float away! After it did we saw those strange white lines in the time steam," Jak explained as he kept his eyes on Cat.

The young woman's face changed to look of frustration as she fiddled with the device in her hands.

"Ah!" She threw the device down onto the sand. "This thing is worthless!"

"Wait for it," Axel whispered. "You go Jak."

Jak twitched but decided that it would be best for him to go. After all, he was the one who wanted to save the device in the _first_ place.

"How am I gonna get…," she sniffled, "home now? If I can't get through, then I can't open the warp gate."

The device the kitten had thrown down to the ground was now floating away in the large ocean, away from her. The ocean waves pulled it farther and farther out, and after a few moments, Cat looked up to see the damage she had done.

"Oh no!" she screamed.

Just as before Cat ran towards the device but stopped when the water came up to her small feet. Jak remembered the fear Cat had of water, and slowly moved out from behind the rock. Cat, however, fell to her knees and began crying loudly in frustration until she heard Jak hit the water.

Jak grabbed the device and walked towards Cat, using the sun's rays to hide his face from her in a shadow. She opened her mouth to say something to Jak as he handed her the device but nothing was coming from her mouth but the moment her eyes saw the device, her frown flipped upside down.

"Kittens don't like water do they?" Jak asked.

"N-No! I'm a water-phobic!" Cat claimed.

"Good thing I was here then," Jak said. He moved his left hand, his normal hand, over to Cat's head and petted her.

"Can I ask?" Cat asked while a blush came over her face. "Who are you?"

He thought for a moment and came up with an answer. "Mar," he said. "Just call me Mar."

"Mar-sama," Cat said as she began to drool.

Jak handed the small cat her device back, and took a few steps back into the water with a smile on his face. These words were coming to him so easily and he didn't know why. He knew exactly what to say to the girl, almost like he had said these words once before.

"Before I go," Jak began, "I have a favor to ask you."

"Anything!" Cat shook her head in excitement.

"Be nice to the Ottsel."

Cat blinked. "You mean Daxter?"

"Yeah." Jak nodded and began to walk away. "See you in four years Neko!"

She gasped. "You know my real name!!"

"Sorry I have to go!" Jak waved one hand in the air, and disappeared from her vision when in fact he hid behind the rock with Axel and Daxter.

Axel smiled. "Way to go kid!"

"So that's way Cat was nice to me after that!" Daxter said with a snap of his fingers. "It was because of…you…us!"

* * *

"She's really gone," Samos announced.

Sig, Kleiver, and the La'Cour family had called Samos to come to the Wasteland to have him check over Avelli and were now standing in Revolver's living room. Torn and Ashelin decided to come as well, leaving the city in the hands of Jinx and his men. Samos had spent an hour with Avelli's body in an attempt to bring her back to life but nothing worked.

"This is all Jak's fault," Louin hissed as he gripped his bloody trench coat. "I will _never_ forgive that bastard."

"Don't go blamin' him!" Sig barked. "Death ain't no one's fault so take it easy kid!"

"We're not going to get into a fight," Ashelin said. "We've got to hold together, Jak isn't going to be happy when he gets back and I doubt fighting is going to help any."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Wicken asked.

Revolver stepped forward. "Let's plan on what to do 'bout the Marauders!"

"Is that all you can think about!?" Louin yelled as he stood. "A damn war that we weren't even a part of?"

"Calm down!" Torn ordered. "If you're going to blow up, do it outside! We've got to plan what to do about the Marauders before they come back to try and take Jak's throne."

Without question, Louin walked out of the house and into the front yard. Cricket walked out with him. Revolver turned back to the group with a heavy sigh as he drew his pistol from his holster.

"They're comin' tonight by land and sea," Revolver said. "Kleiver, you think you can manage the Gun Turret for us?"

"I gotta do what I gotta do!" Kleiver grinned. "As long as Jak ain't around I'll man the Gun Turret! Gotta beat his score anyways!"

"Good," Torn said with a nod. "We'll set up posts all around the city and wait for nightfall. When the Marauders get into town they'll have no where to go!"

"Things are going to end tonight!" Revolver clicked the hammer back on his gun. "The way it should have ended when Damas was around!"

A loud banging noise caught the group's attention. Torn turned back to the room where Avelli's body had been laid to rest and ran inside. He stopped in his tracks as he arrived in the doorway; Avelli was standing up, rubbing her head.

"What in Mar's name happened?" she asked.

* * *

R&R please! 


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